Heartwarming moment schoolgirl, 10, reunited with her missing cat after nine months

<p>Katya Harmon was reunited with her cat Timmy </p> (PA)

Katya Harmon was reunited with her cat Timmy

(PA)

A mother captured the moment her 10-year-old daughter was reunited with her beloved cat after he went missing for nine months.

Katya Harmon, from Woking, had given up hope of ever seeing her black cat Timmy again in a difficult year in which her father Perry died of cancer.

Katya’s mother Svitlana Harmon filmed the schoolgirls heart-warming reaction as she pulled back her bed covers to reveal Timmy purring back at her.

Svitlana said Timmy’s return had “brought some light back” to the family.

<p>Katya was delighted to see Timmy again</p>PA

Katya was delighted to see Timmy again

PA

Timmy, believed to be a stray, was being fed by a woman living nearby but was taken back to his rightful home after a chip was discovered.

Ms Harmon said: “I had just taken Katya to school when I received a totally unexpected call from Cats Protection. I had given up hope of ever receiving such a call. Timmy was coming home. It was almost unbelievable.

“I knew that Katya would be overjoyed to see Timmy. That was when I hit on the idea of filming that special moment, to capture Katya’s reaction to finding Timmy hiding on her bed.”

Ms Harmon said: “If it wasn’t for that microchip, we wouldn’t have Timmy home with us now. He won’t leave Katya’s side and she is besotted with him.

“We’ve had it hard this year, like so many people… then I had a miracle call from Cats Protection. It really brought some light back into our world.”

<p> It was almost unbelievable, says Katya’s mother of Timmy’s return</p>PA

It was almost unbelievable, says Katya’s mother of Timmy’s return

PA

Pauline Welch, welfare officer for Cats Protection, said: “We had a report from a lady who had been feeding a suspected stray cat for a couple of months.

“I went round and scanned him for a microchip, which he had thankfully.”

Cats Protection’s Christmas campaign will highlight the importance of microchipping pets, with the charity claiming that 26 per cent of owned cats in the UK are not microchipped.

Reporting by PA.