"He was a lovely cat, very wise and so very affectionate".

Ozzie was found 9,000 miles from home

A globetrotting cat found 9,000 miles away from home has sadly passed away after charity manages to unravel the mystery.

Ozzie was taken to Cat's Protection in County Armagh as a stray last month, after he was found scavenging for food in a garden.

Charity volunteers got a shock however when they scanned his microchip and realised his registered address was in Sydney, Australia.

It took weeks to unravel the mystery but staff managed to trace his Australian owners, who explained his past.

"It turns out he was originally called Tigger and had come to the UK with a pet passport along with his family on their travels," said Gillian McMullen, coordinator at the charity's Armagh branch.

"Somehow he had become separated from them – we’re not sure how – and had ended up being homed to a new family in the Armagh area. It seems he had managed to get lost and that’s when we found him as a stray."

Volunteers at the charity were left heartbroken when Ozzie developed serious kidney failure and had to be put to sleep.

"He was a lovely cat, very wise and so very affectionate," Gillian said. "We were really hoping for a happy end to his story…
 
"In the end it proved too much for him and he was very weak and ill. It was heart-breaking when the vet said the only thing we could do was to have him put to sleep.
 
"He was 15 and had clearly led a very colourful and eventful life. In the end, he died very peacefully and quietly in my arms."

Image courtesy of Cats Protection