A missing moggie has been reunited with her owner more than 10 years after disappearing.

Linda Ellerton thought she’d never see Whiskas again when she went missing from her home in Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside in 2013.

But when scrolling through Facebook last month the animal lover stumbled across an appeal from the RSPCA and recognised the black and white feline.

“I thought it can't possibly be Whiskas after all these years,”, Linda Ellerton, who now lies in Hazelrigg, Newcastle, said.

The Northern Echo: Whiskas the cat.Whiskas the cat. (Image: PR)

“I thought the photos looked like her, but it had been so long and we never thought we’d see her again.

“When I saw the RSPCA Facebook post it mentioned the DH4 postal area where we’d lived.

“We had a few cats at that point and she just disappeared. We thought she had found somewhere else to live when she didn't come in one night.”

The 16-year-old mouser was underweight and in a poor condition when she was found in Chilton Moor, near Houghton-le-Spring where she went missing.

A man who found her managed to feed her and take her to the vets before she ended up at the RSPCA in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

The Northern Echo: Whiskas the cat with owner Linda Ellerton.Whiskas the cat with owner Linda Ellerton. (Image: PR)

Linda continued: “I’ve been in touch with the gentleman who found her, apparently she was living in his garden shed, and we can’t thank him and the RSPCA enough.

“She is 16 and I’ve now got a dog, so it would be difficult for a cat her age to live with me, but my brother, David, was only too happy to take her and keep her in the family.

“When the RSPCA officer brought her to my brother's, she came over to me straight away.”

Whiskas has put on weight and is making a good recovery after, possibly, many years living as a stray.

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RSPCA officer David Dawson said: “It was pleasing that we were able to reunite Linda with Whiskas after all these years. She had a cuddle with her and it was very emotional to see.

“The family had given up hope of seeing the cat again, but fortunately, the man who had been feeding her for several months was so concerned about her condition that he managed to get her to a vets.

“It is important that owners keep microchip details up to date when they move home as it makes the task of reuniting them with their pets so much easier.”