News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A pet owner is devastated after the 'feral' cat she took in NINE years ago was returned to its original owner - more than 450 MILES away.

Rosalin Montgomery, 52, from Scotland, adopted the bedraggled kitten during a holiday to Torquay, Devon, in 2007 after believing she was a stray.

She named the pet Ember and took it back home to Glasgow where they have lived happily for nearly a decade.

But when the grey cat recently went missing she was handed to an animal charity in East Kilbride.

The charity Cats Protection scanned her chip and realised she was actually called Norma Jean and was from Torquay.

Confused Norma Jean was then whisked hundreds of miles south and reunited with her original owners - leaving Rosalin devastated.

She only discovered what had happened when she read about the reunion in the newspaper - and realised it was her beloved Ember.

Tearful Rosalin is now begging her owner to consider returning the pet.

She said: "We are devastated. We haven't stopped crying.

Read more:Cat survives after being locked in car at airport for 11 days

"I would love more than anything if the original owner would consider giving her back to us.

"She is our baby and I would love more than anything in the world to have Ember back.

"This lady - her original owner - has done nothing wrong. I know she must be an animal lover like me, because she has still got Ember's mum and sister and brother.

"All she has done is have her cat returned to her. I respect her. I know she hasn't done anything wrong. We just miss her so much."

(Image: Getty)

Rosalin found Ember when visiting her boyfriend Gary James, 51, who lived in Torquay, in 2007.

She claims the cat - then a tiny kitten - would turn up on his doorstep regularly, and she believed he was abandoned or feral, so soon took her in.

"We knocked on doors and asked around, and nobody knew she belonged to anyone," said the full-time mum.

"She looked underfed and she had loads of bones in her stools, so we thought she was feral.

Read more:Cat looks constantly surprised - but there's a sad reason behind his startled expression

"She was with a big tom cat and another feral cat and we followed them one night and they were sleeping in an old lock up.

"When my partner moved up to Scotland we couldn't leave her. Simple as that."

When Gary moved to join the family and he brought Ember with him.

Rosalin said she loves nothing more than sunbathing on their balcony and snuggling up with her Labrador River, and other cats Salem and Smirnoff.

(Image: SWNS)

When Ember was hit by a car a year after arriving in Scotland vets checked for a microchip and couldn't find one, according to the mum.

But last week she went missing for a few days before briefly returning home and vanishing again.

"We searched everywhere," said Rosalin.

She had no idea where the cat was until she read a story from Cats Protection in the newspaper on Tuesday.

Read more:Four tiny kittens rescued from a car crusher just seconds before it was switched on

The story about 'Norma Jean' said she had been found in East Kilbride and returned to her owner in Torquay.

Rosalin called the charity who said the pet was handed into a rescue centre after being found on a doorstep, and vets found a very old microchip.

They traced her original owners in Devon via Facebook - who happened to be on holiday in Scotland at the time - and handed her back.

"We didn't stop crying all day," said Rosalin.

"He wasn't a lost cat - he was our baby. He was our much-loved, fat, lazy cat."