RSPCA workers at York’s animal re-homing centre are baffled as to how a cat ended up in their care after going missing from its home 200 miles away.

The male cat, called Boris, turned up at Landing Lane, looking very thin but in good health, after being handed in by a concerned York resident who had been feeding him.

When the animal was scanned for a micro chip, astonished staff found Boris was actually from Lowestoft in Suffolk.

The cat has now been reunited with his delighted owner, Amanda Morton, 44, who travelled up to collect him after being contacted by staff in York.

Mrs Morton said: “It was April 9 when he went missing. He wasn’t originally my cat; he was my mother’s, who passed away three years ago.

“He went missing before at Christmas for nine days but he turned up. This time we put posters up everywhere and did a leaflet drop.

“Somebody actually found his collar and left it on my door handle but nobody contacted us.

“I couldn’t give up hope, but after six weeks I began to think maybe we had lost him.”

When Mrs Morton was contacted by RSPCA staff in York, she asked them to scan the cat again because she could not believe he had travelled so far.

She said: “I have no idea how he got there. Perhaps he was in a caravan or a car and I don’t know if he got there in one go.

“He hasn’t said anything since he got back,” she joked.

Staff at the RSPCA in York said the case of Boris proved how important it was to get cats and dogs micro-chipped.

The charity will be holding a micro-chipping event at New Earswick Folk Hall on Tuesday, June 28, between 11am and 3.30pm. Owners will be able to get their pet chipped for a donation of £5.

A second event will take place on the following day at Tang Hall Community Centre in Fifth Avenue, between 11am and 3.30pm.