A Lowestoft cat is coming home after a four-week mystery adventure where he ended up in Luton.

Eight-year-old Yogi caused his family quite a fright when he went missing on May 5.

Just under a month later, he was found in Luton.

Owner Nyree Fincham, 46, was surprised when she wasn't greeted by her black tom in the morning with a request for fresh water from the kitchen tap.

But cats will be cats and initially Mrs Fincham was not concerned. As the day was bright and warm, she imagined Yogi to be lounging outside in the sun.

Mrs Fincham said "alarm bells started ringing" the following morning when Yogi was still nowhere to be seen.

"I was really worried," Mrs Fincham said. "Me and my husband ended up putting off getting our vows renewed as we couldn't look forward to it.

"My son was also very stressed by it all. He was missing him. We all were."

Mrs Fincham, her husband Shaun, 49, and sons Kramer, 15, and Chandler, 21, immediately began looking for their beloved pet and contacted Cat Angels, a Lowestoft group dedicated to reuniting lost and found cats with their owners as well as collecting food to support colonies of feral cats.

Cat Angels helped the family design and print leaflets as well as doing Facebook posts asking people to check their sheds and homes for any sightings of Yogi.

Despite their efforts, Yogi was never found.

"At the end of May, I didn't think we were going to get him back," Mrs Fincham said. "I was beginning to settle that we might not see him again.

"But on Wednesday, Shaun got a call and as soon as I heard him say 'Yogi,' I put down the vacuum cleaner and ran over to him. The next thing I heard Shaun say was 'how the heck did he get to Luton?'

"As soon as we were told he was safe and with the shelter, I felt total relief.

"I wanted to go Luton straight away - but to give him a chance to recuperate, we will be picking him up on the weekend.

"We can't wait to have him home."

Yogi was recovered by the Animals at Risk shelter in Luton and he was handed in with an injured paw which is healing.

Once Yogi is reunited with his family, he will be "spoilt rotten" and the Fincham's vow renewal is once again going ahead.

National Microchipping Month

June marks the annual awareness campaign for responsible pet ownership.

Mrs Fincham was only able to track her lost cat as she had had Yogi microchipped while he was still a kitten. When the family moved from Ipswich in 2019, they made sure to update their contact details on Yogi's microchip.

"If we hadn't had Yogi microchipped, we would never have been able to find him," Mrs Fincham said.

"Yogi would have been classed as a stray and either be rehomed or kept in a shelter. He could have been lost in the system. We're so glad we kept everything up to date."

Mrs Fincham thanked Animals at Risk, Cat Angels and everyone who got in touch on Facebook.

For more information on Cat Angels, visit their Facebook.