Swedish cat missing for a year returned to owner in England

(UPI) A cat that was missing for more than a year in England found its way home with the help of social media and the Swedish government.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Branch shared a photo of the Swedish cat that was found wandering the streets of England after being unable to read her microchip.

"We have found her to be micro-chipped however the chip is from Sweden but after making inquiries we have been unable to find information about where she belongs as the chip is not registered on the relevant databases," the shelter wrote two weeks ago.

Desperately searching for a solution to the bizarre problem, the animal society turned to social media in hopes of finding the wayward cat's owner.

"We put the cat onto Facebook and Twitter and asked our community of supporters to help," RSPCA branch manager Rachel Gray said. The post was shared far and wide and we even had an offer of help via Twitter from the Swedish embassy!

The social media plea eventually reached the cat's owner, Jessica Vestin, who said the feline's name is "Cookie" and she moved with her from Sweden to England in 2015.

Cookie had been missing for about a year and Vestin had eventually given up hope of ever seeing her pet again.

"I was looking for Cookie for such a long a long time but we could not find her - I felt like giving up," she said. Then one day, my boyfriend was on his break at work and he was looking on Facebook when he saw a photo of a cat which had been handed in to the RSPCA. He tagged me in it as he thought the cat looked like Cookie.

After confirming the cat in the photo was indeed her long-lost pet, Vestin contacted the society and set up their reunion.

"I was so happy when I realised it was her. We are just so lucky that she was found," Vestin said.