Clive is a Norwegian Forest Cat who was recently reunited with his family after he left home over a year ago in October 2014. When posters and social media posts regarding the missing kitty brought no answers, Clive’s owners thought they’d never see their nine-month-old kitten again…until they received a phone call on February 2nd, 2016, that he had been found.
Although it’s no surprise that the kitten would grow during that time, owners Tanya and Jonathan Irons–along with two-year-old daughter Elizabeth–didn’t expect him to double in size!
As it turns out, the cat had been very well fed…he’d been living in a pet food warehouse just a couple miles away!
Staff at Kennelgate Pet Superstores in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire noticed that cat treats were mysteriously disappearing. When they started picking up on clues left by Clive–alarms going off, the appearance of cat droppings–they began to solve the mystery.
“The Warehouse Operations Director was getting alarm calls because there was something active in the warehouse at night – it was setting the alarms off…We eventually found it was a cat – we just couldn’t catch it,” said Retail Operations Director Colin Lewis in a BBC News article.
The Kennelgate staff ended up borrowing a cat trap from the Cats Nottingham Rescue, luring Clive in with a trail of the treats he had grown to love, and finally caught the elusive cat.
Clive was promptly brought to the vet where he was scanned for a microchip, revealing that he belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Irons. They were immediately called, and reunited shortly thereafter.
Said Mrs. Irons in an article by the Mirror, “When we got him back we were shocked to see how big and fluffy he was. He’s obviously been living the life of Riley in that pet food factory.”
And now, the Irons family needs to keep up with Clive’s expanded appetite.
“He wasn’t a big eater before, but he always had to eat very quickly before his brothers stole it. He was probably glad he didn’t have to compete with them to eat for once…He has a huge appetite now though. I’ve had to leave him with a big bucket of food, he just won’t stop eating…We’re not going to put him on a diet though, he’s just a bit rounder but he’s happy,” said Mrs. Irons to the Mirror.
Check out an interview with the happy family here:
Clive, you are one resourceful kitty!
