Stowaway cat travels Europe on year away from home

A black and white cat that went missing from his French home for a year and embarked on a journey going from Calais, over to Italy, across the English Channel into the UK and ending up in Shropshire, has been reunited with his owners.

The intrepid explorer, nicknamed Pierre by the Telford vets who helped him recover after his adventure, was away from home for 12 months and completed a 1,200-mile round trip by the time he made it home, none the worse for his travels.

Pierre, whose real name turned out to be Ushuaia, made his journey as a stowaway in the back of a haulage lorry.

No-one knows when exactly the feline found his way into the lorry, but he arrived in Shropshire on 7 April.

Pierre was taken into Southwater Veterinary Group in Telford, where vets gave him a health check and traced his owners through his microchip.

Staff had to contact a series of animal health authorities before they could treat him.

Rachel Harvey, practice manager, said: "It was quite a surprise to have Pierre brought into reception, with no idea where he'd come from or how he'd snuck his way into the HGV.

"Fortunately, he was microchipped and we learned he was registered to a French database.

"After some digging, Pierre's owner was traced and we managed to speak with her using Google Translate."

Nicole Souillard, Pierre's owner, immediately made plans to be reunited with him.

Her pet spent just under a fortnight in isolation at the vets and two weeks quarantined at Dover before she could collect him and take him home.

"This is the happiest ending we could have hoped for," Ms Harvey said.

"Pierre is safely back home in France with his family, none the worse for his travels and certainly with a tale to tell his friends."

She said the story showed the importance of microchipping pets and updating details when addresses changed.

Their French feline had settled in nicely to his routine of being treated at the vets – and having cuddles, she added.

But there was "a hint of sadness among the team" when Pierre set off on his journey home because they had begun to love his company, she said.

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