One-eyed cat missing for 11 YEARS is found living in a wheelie bin a few streets away from owner

A one-eyed cat has been reunited with her delighted owner after she went missing 11 YEARS ago.

Terrie Mitchell had resigned herself to never seeing her pet cat Chloe again after she vanished from their home in Sheffield in 2005.

However, the pair had an emotional reunion this month after Chloe was discovered living in an overturned wheelie bin just a few streets away from where she was last seen.

Chloe came to live with Ms Mitchell, 34, when she was 21-year-old and still living at home with her mum, Jean.

However, Ms Mitchell eventually moved out with her partner and Chloe stayed at the house but went missing after Jean passed away unexpectedly aged 60.

She said: “You didn’t microchip in those days. I don’t even know if it was around then.

“I was pregnant at the time and I looked for her for days, but no-one had seen her.

“I assumed she had been run over, because I had another cat a few years before who had been run over on that road.”

It wasn’t until this month that Chloe was spotted again by postwoman Andrea Hurst, who noticed the fluffy cat in a wheelie bin while making a delivery.

Chloe, who had been living in the bin for six years, was being fed by a local woman but Andrea tried to find her real owner and posted her picture on Facebook, writing: “This is probably a long shot, but does anyone recognise this beautiful cat?”

Ms Mitchell soon saw the picture – and knew it was Chloe.

She said: “When I saw the picture, I thought: ‘Wow, that looks like my Chloe’. I was shaking and panicking.

“I was asked for proof so I ran upstairs to the attic to grab the photos I still had of her as a kitten.”

The married mum-of-two, who already has two cats, had recently been talking about getting another black cat.

And on on November 5, after a check-out at the vets, the pair were finally reunited and Chloe is now settling back in with her owner.

Ms Mitchell added: “Now I feel guilty that I didn’t search for her better, because she was obviously around, the poor little lady.

“It could give hope to people who haven’t seen their pets in years.”

Top pic: SWNS