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Manchester cat reunited with its family six years after going missing

"We just couldn't believe it."

Emily Sergeant - 23rd February 2023

A missing cat from Manchester has been miraculously reunited with his loving family six years after disappearing.

Handsome black and white cat Raffael – who is better known as Raffi – disappeared from Mustafa Javed’s home in the Old Trafford area of Manchester just before Christmas back in 2016, and after the family searched for their missing four-legged friend for a good few months, they eventually gave up hope that he would ever be found.

But miraculously, earlier this year, the Javeds received a call from the RSPCA out of the blue to say that a cat had been found with matching Raffi’s description, according to BBC Manchester.

Raffi was found when RSPCA inspector Rachel Henderson was called out to see an injured cat that had been discovered in the garden of a property in the Manchester suburb of Longsight, before taking him to RSPCA’s Greater Manchester Animal Hospital for treatment an abscess on his back.

After the feline had spent some time recovering, a quick scan of the microchip brought up the Javeds’ details, and the family were contacted to say Raffi had been found.

“We couldn’t believe it,” Mr Javed told the BBC.

“The children were so excited, it’s all they could talk about. I think the whole family was stunned and shocked as we’d been through the grieving process and had even had a burial for him to try and bring about some sort of closure.

“So to hear that he’d been found alive after all this time, it really was a lot to take in.”

With Raffi and the Javeds now having been reunited, and the feline settling back into life at home after six years missing, Mr Javed says he hopes their story shows how important a microchip can be and inspires other families to consider it for their pets if they haven’t already.

RSPCA Inspector Ms Henderson said she was “shocked” to hear how long Raffi had been missing for.

She says she was “delighted” to be able to let the Javeds know the good news that their furry family member had been found alive after over half a decade as it had “obviously been an emotional time for them”.

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“They’d grieved and understandably moved on in the years since,” Ms Henderson added.

“But seeing the joy on their faces now their much-loved pet is back is something I will remember for a long time.”

Featured Image – RSPCA