A MAN has been reunited with his cat following an appeal published in The Northern Echo.

Student David Nelson said he was reading the newspaper when he recognised his cat Drum, which had gone missing four months previously.

He is now keen to track the person who cared for Drum before placing the pet, with a new basket and blanket, outside the Durham veterinary practice Vets 4 Pets.

Mr Nelson, of Bear Park, near Durham, said: "When I saw the picture in the paper, I thought it looked like my cat.

"I had to look again to be sure.

"Spotting her in paper was like looking at a ghost, only it wasn't a ghost. She was alive."

Mr Nelson said that when Drum went missing, he did the usual checks, but had no pictures to distribute.

He said: "I can only think that she must have got lost and someone must have taken her in, but later decided that they could no longer look after her.

"What was unusual was that she was left outside the vets in a brand new basket.

"It would be nice to find out who had looked after her so I could thank them and find out what happened."