Darlington woman reunited with cat missing for three years

Deborah Cobb’s moggy Billy went missing around the time of the first Covid lockdown three years ago, and she always kept up hopes of a reunion with the mouser despite fearing the worst.

But when she got an unexpected call from the vets she was shocked to hear he had been found alive in a back lane by a passer-by.

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Deborah, a council worker from Darlington, said: “He went missing about three years ago. He’d gone missing before, but we’d found him but this time we thought he was gone.

“I put posts on Facebook and one person spotted him, but he just seemed to disappear off the face of the earth from there.

“I always told myself a little old lady had taken him in and they were looking after each other, just because I didn’t want to believe the worst.”

But when Deborah got a call on Wednesday from the vets she was taken a back to hear the cat had been found.

The 51-year-old mum added: “My brother was out walking my dog when I got a call from the vets, and I wondered what had happened.

Billy has now returned home (Image: DEBORAH COBB)

“I was a bit taken a back because she used my maiden name but then she told me someone had just handed Billy in and that I could come and collect him.

“When I saw him it was like he remembered me, he strolled over and rubbed his head on me.

“When I got home him and the dog looked at each other like they could remember each other too.

“He’s definitely not going out again!”

The 13-year-old puss had been found between some bin bags in a back lane near Morrisons on Darlington’s North Road by a passerby called Shelley who took him to Westway Vets.

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Deborah has since spoken to Shelley and praised her kind-heartedness helping Billy.

“He looks like he’s been shaved,” she added, “I’d love to know where he’s been all this time.”

Vets initially thought he had been missing since 2017 – when he had previously gone missing – but Deborah has called on pet owners to remember to register their pets found when they come home.