WHEN ginger cat Toby disappeared five months ago his family thought they would never see him again.

But there were tears of joy all round this week when the 11-year-old cat was handed in to a Horwich veterinary surgery after he was found four miles away from home.

Now he has been reunited with the Urmston family and is staying firmly put, living the rest of his life out as a house cat, says owner, Kathryn Urmston.

Little Toby had been let out of the family home in Horwich one morning in May.

Mrs Urmston said: “He always went out for a little walk around the garden then came back in again. He is an old man so didn’t go far and spent most of his day asleep on a chair inside.”

But this particular day he did not return.

After hours of searching it was clear Toby had simply disappeared.

Posters were put up, friends and family knocked on doors and posted Toby’s story on social media but despite a number of false alarms there was no positive news.

“People were spotting ginger cats but they weren’t Toby. We had given up hope,” explained Mrs Urmston, who said her daughters Libby, aged six and three-year-old Phoebe were devastated. Little Felicity, who is three months old, had never met Toby.

But this week 31-year-old Mrs Urmston was at home when she got a call from Pike Moor Veterinary Surgery.

“I was asked if I had a cat called Toby and I was just about to explain that I did but he was missing when I was told he had been found. I burst into tears,” she said.

Mrs Urmston, a teaching assistant, went to collect Toby and could not wait to reunite him with her daughters and husband, Philip, aged 31, who is a self-employed joiner.

The couple had adopted Toby 10 years ago from Bolton’s Destitute Animal Shelter.

“He is just an old man, pottering around. This was so out of character for him,” she said.

Toby was discovered in the Wilderswood area of Horwich, with paint on his ears, but was in remarkably good shape considering how long he had been missing.

“We honestly thought he would never be found. We couldn’t imagine him living through all the hot weather and then the terrible rain,” said Mrs Urmston.

Now she is wondering what Toby got up to on his travels. “He is a timid cat and would never go off with someone he didn’t know. We may never know what happened to him,” she said, adding the family was going to present the woman who found him with a big bunch of flowers to show their appreciation. “We are just so grateful to her. We are so happy. He has clearly not forgotten us and the girls are delighted.”

Since returning home Toby has been living in the lap of luxury. He sleeps on the bed and was bought extra toys and treats.

Mrs Urmston said Toby is a prime example of why animals should be chipped and the chip details kept up to date.

“Thankfully because he was chipped he could be reunited with us,” said Mrs Urmston. “He can have a happy retirement now.”