WHEN Kate Blakemore's black and white cat Marvin went missing, she didn't expect him to turn up five weeks later 15 miles away.

It is believed the adventurous moggy may have sneaked on to a narrowboat and travelled from Goldenhill to Barlaston as a stowaway on the canal.

Kate, who works as a nurse at the County Vets in Sandbach, was overjoyed when she received a phone call from a vet in Stone to say her beloved Marvin had been brought in to be micro-chipped.

The vet discovered the furry feline already had a microchip and belonged to Kate, aged 28.

Three-and-a-half-year-old Marvin went missing from Kate's Goldenhill home on September 28. He then arrived at a home in Boatyard Lane, Barlaston, on October 7 and was cared for by another woman.

Map showing Marvin’s route

Kate said: "I live near the canal and so does the lady who had adopted him, so I think he must have hopped on a barge.

"I think he must have slept rough for a couple of weeks and probably managed to scrounge some food."

Kate first realised Marvin was missing when he wasn't waiting for her when she returned from work.

She told The Sentinel: "He is usually hanging around waiting for me to get home but there was no sign of him.

"He is quite a naughty cat so the next day I went round to the neighbours to see if he'd got himself locked in their shed as he hadn't appeared, but no luck. After a few days I put up posters, as I had spoken to local vets and animal charities but nobody had seen him.

"As the weeks passed, I resigned myself to the fact that he had probably made himself at home at someone else's house.

"I was upset because I'd had him since he was a day old. He is more like a dog than a cat. He'd always be sitting on my knee and lapping up attention. I really missed him."

But last week Kate received a phone call from a vet in Stone to tell her Marvin had been brought in by a lady from Barlaston.

The lady decided to take him to be micro-chipped, so if he wandered off again she would be able to find him more easily.

But at the vets it was discovered that Marvin was already micro-chipped and his rightful owner lived 15 miles away.

Kate said: "I was delighted to hear that he was fit and well but I couldn't believe he had travelled all the way to Barlaston.

"I am over the moon to have him back and I'm very grateful that he was well looked after during his little adventure."

Vet Heather Covey, of County Vets in Sandbach, where Kate works, said: "I have never heard of a cat travelling so far before without mechanised assistance. We think he must have got on a boat.

"He must have been so frightened. When Kate first got him back he was very thin. He isn't much of a hunter so he must have been surviving by scrounging through bins.

"Kate had rang all the surrounding vets near here but you would never dream of phoning one 15 miles away.

"Cat owners should all microchip their pets."