Curiosity takes cat to France

When curious feline Top Cat crawled into a removal van in Cornwall he could not have imagined that the next time he saw daylight he would be 500 miles south among the vineyards of Bordeaux.

It took three days to get there but it will now take seven months for the 10-year-old Oriental Red to return, as he has to wait in Spain to qualify for a pet passport.

Owner Jayne Manley, 42, searched high and low when her beloved pet disappeared a week ago. "We couldn't find him anywhere," said the youth worker, from St Neot, Cornwall. "Then two days later I got a phone call to say, 'We have found your cat - he's in Bordeaux.' I was astonished."

Top Cat's weak miaows were heard by Ms Manley's neighbour, who had driven the van, laden with furniture, to his mother's house in France. Top Cat had endured the bumps of the journey, surviving three days without food or water. "He is fine now and is being looked after very well," said Ms Manley.

She travels via ferry from Portsmouth to Santander in northern Spain tomorrow to pick him up and take him, via Madrid, to Malaga in the south, where he will stay with family friend Heather McClerry.

After seven months in the sunshine, Top Cat will qualify for a pet passport so he can return to Cornwall with Ms McClerry.

"My 14-year-old collie dog, Jed, has gone downhill this week," said Ms Manley. "He has lost his sparring partner. He misses the cat so much."

After his summer in the sun - which will cost Ms Manley more than £750 - Top Cat faces the cold of a British winter on his return home.

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