A retired couple have been reunited with their cat that went missing six months ago.

Keith and Christine Shearman, from Surrey, were devastated when they returned from a shopping trip to find their cat Lupin gone last September.

The couple had raised the cat along with her twin sister from 2006 when they were kittens.

We’d had Lupin and her twin sister Tonks since they were kittens. She’s a lovely friendly cat and would always love to sit on the windowsill and see what was going on outside. We call them the bookends as I would sit on the sofa with Lupin on my lap and my wife would sit at the other end with Tonks on her lap. We were devastated when Lupin didn’t come back. She’s such a cute little cat, We hoped she might come home but she never did and we just lost all hope of ever seeing her again. Keith Shearman

Last week the couple, who live in Mitcham, Surrey, received a phone call from Blue Cross in Merton, saying Lupin, who was microchipped, had been found.

We couldn’t believe it. We thought she’d maybe been taken by someone or something even worse had happened as there had been reports of attacks on cats at the time and we have foxes in our area too. Blue Cross asked us to bring our microchip papers and when we got to the hospital in Merton we couldn’t believe it was Lupin. We were so happy to see her. Now she’s back home and back to her own self. We’re over the moon to have her back. Keith Shearman

Elise Smith, from Blue Cross animal hospital in Merton said:

We were able to locate Lupin’s owners after she was handed into us and we scanned her for a microchip. We’re so happy to have reunited her with her owners after such a long time. This just goes to show how incredibly important microchipping is. Elise Smith, from Blue Cross animal hospital

Blue Cross animal hospital in Merton microchips pets for free. To make an appointment you can contact the team on 0300 777 1810 or find out more at www.bluecross.org.uk.