WHEN Fiona Cook and partner David moved from Little Wittenham to Harwell, Hugo, one of their three cats, went walkabout.

Assuming he had followed his homing instincts and headed back to Little Wittenham, the couple went out seven times shaking tins of dried food and calling for him.

After nine weeks, they admitted defeat, fearing he had come a cropper on the A34 attempting to return the seven miles to his old home.

Then one evening while out for an after-dinner stroll in the dark, they heard a miaow from the bushes, followed by the appearance of Hugo.

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And far from being the ragged, skinny stray they expected, he was fatter than ever, with a thick winter coat.

He had not just survived, he had thrived by hunting for his dinner.

Delighted with his return, the couple led Hugo back home, where they expected a suspicious, cautious reunion with his brother Harley and their adoptive sister Ruby.

Instead, Hugo went straight to his food bowl to see what was for dinner.

Ms Cook, 55, an administrator for Amey in Sutton Courtenay, said: “We were absolutely delighted when he came out of the bushes, but we couldn’t believe our eyes.

“We genuinely didn’t think we would see him again.

“We were just chatting away and he came rushing out of the bushes as if to say ‘remember me’.

“He was miaowing, purring away, rubbing up against our legs, absolutely convinced it was us – it was us who wanted to make sure it was him.

“He was looking very healthy considering we thought he’d been living rough.”

The real test, she said, to check it was Hugo was taking him back home with the other cats.

But she said: “He sauntered into the house and straight to his food bowl.

“Harley and Ruby were checking him to see if he was real.”

After jostling to regain his position in the pecking order, Hugo settled back into his new home and since his adventure has shown little enthusiasm for leaving.

His owners are still convinced that he survived in the wild by catching rabbits in the fields around Long Wittenham.

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