To Hull and back: Glasgow cat reunited with owner after 280-mile stowaway trip

A woman has told of her relief at being reunited with her cat after it stowed away in a van in Glasgow and ended up around 280 miles away near Hull.

Emily Caldwell spent weeks searching for her cat Luna and put up flyers around the neighbourhood after the nine-year-old pet went missing from her home in the Shawlands area of Glasgow on October 9.

She and her husband were starting to lose hope and accept that something bad had happened to Luna when they received an email on October 29 from a student who thought she had found the missing cat.

The 34-year-old was initially unsure from the pictures the woman sent as Luna looked thinner, but when the woman sent a video Ms Caldwell realised it was definitely her missing pet.

She was stunned to learn that Luna had been found at a college in a rural location close to Winestead, between Hull and the coast in Yorkshire, around 280 miles from Glasgow.

It is thought Luna may have stowed away in the van of a member of staff who was visiting Glasgow and drove back to Hull unaware that there was a feline passenger in the vehicle.

Ms Caldwell said: “She does not normally roam very far. It is very out of character. She is a small cat, so she is a bit cautious.

“I have no idea how or when she got in this van. I think she might have got lost and been looking for somewhere to shelter, and she ended up being driven more than 200 miles and then just roaming around some random location until she must have got hungry enough to think, ‘right, I need to find some humans to feed me’.

“I’m so grateful to the students, who were so lovely.”

The students at the College for International Co-operation and Development took care of the cat after they noticed her roaming around the college and fed her and gave her a bed.

Ms Caldwell said the students took the cat to a vet, who scanned her microchip but for some reason it did not lead to the vet contacting her.

However, the students did some detective work and tracked her down after they found a listing that she had posted on PawBoost, an app and database where people can post details about their missing pet.

Ms Caldwell had a note of Luna’s microchip number which the students took to the vet, who scanned her again and confirmed that it was really the missing cat and that Ms Caldwell was the owner.

The mother-of-one said: “As time went on and by the third week there had been not a single sighting of her, we decided she must have had an accident and must have been hit by a car or something.

“It was just a complete mystery and we had just accepted we were never going to see her again, and were feeling really sad, it had been a really anxious few weeks.

“Then I had an email from someone who had seen the listing on PawBoost.

Luna resting on her cat tower after returning home (Emily Caldwell/PA)

“If I had not listed her on there, I don’t think we would have got her back.”

Ms Caldwell’s father, who lives in the north of England, drove to collect Luna and take her home to Glasgow, where she arrived back on October 31 to the delight of her owners.

She said: “When she was found I had a massive grin on my face all day and you just feel like everything’s right with the world again.

“It’s such a relief not to be wondering what awful thing has happened to my cat?”

She said that Luna returned home thinner and missing a tooth, but otherwise none the worse for her adventures, though she slept for several days upon her return.

Ms Caldwell said Luna has also developed some new skills after fending for herself while away.

She said: “Since she’s come back it’s like she’s definitely been toughened up.

“She seems like a bit more of a wild animal now, as she’s obviously had to fend for herself and she’s been jumping to heights within the house that I’ve never seen her do before, like jumping onto the top of the wardrobe.

“So, she’s obviously become very fit and strong from having to survive in the wild.”

But she said that Luna seemed delighted to be home after her adventures.

She said: “As soon as she got into the house you could tell that she knew she was home, her tail was in the air, she was roaming round the place. I think she just knew finally, I can rest.”