AFTER jumping aboard a van, and then living rough for almost seven days, Minty the cat is safely back home at Langrish, much to the joy of his young owner, Albie.
Mum Susannah Kelson-Ford said: “Albie is really delighted to have Minty back, so happy. We are all really relieved and happy he’s home.”
The one-year-old tabby from Bordean Manor went missing on August 11, after it’s thought he slipped unseen into a Tesco home delivery van from Winchester, the disappearance leaving five-year-old Albie and Susannah “distraught.”
The family began searching, but there were fears Minty was gone for good.
Susannah said: “We were out every day walking the lanes and fields around us, we put up posters, and knocked on doors. But there was the nagging worry he had strayed on to the road.”
Then the Tesco van returned, and Susannah gave driver John Cooke a missing poster.
She said: “Minty had been seen near the depot, and John and two colleagues managed to catch him, I can’t say how delighted I was to get their call.
“He had been living rough for almost seven days, and was really frightened, and quite skinny – but very pleased to see us. I am so grateful to John.”
After being checked over at the Petersfield Centre for Integrated Veterinary Medicine, Minty is recovering.