A cat lost six years ago in eastern Ontario will soon be reunited with her owner in Alberta, thanks to a Belleville, Ont., veterinarian and an animal rescue agency.

Betty-Jean Matthews, president of Stuck in the Mud Animal Rescue, says the female calico cat was found wandering the streets of Brockville, Ont., last September.

Matthews says her group took the cat in after the pound in Brockville couldn't find the owner and put the animal on its euthanasia list.

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Dr. Chris Tummon of Moira Veterinary Hospital examined the cat last fall, and noticed a faded tattoo on its ear which was traced to an Edmonton veterinary clinic where the cat had been spayed in 2009.

Matthews says her daughter got the owner's name from the clinic and Matthews contacted the owner on Wednesday and learned the owner had lost Cleo while attending college in Kemptville, Ont., in 2009.

Matthews says the owner is a single mother and can't afford to ship the cat to Alberta, so fundraising efforts are underway to raise the money needed to fly Cleo to Edmonton, where her owner, who lives in Leduc, will pick her up.