Edinburgh woman’s joy as cat, presumed dead, returns home after month long disappearance

Julia Kerr from Chesser was terrified her beloved cat Belle had been run over after she failed to come home on May 23.

Let us know what you think and join the conversation at the bottom of this article.

After a month of fruitless searching, Ms Kerr received a call from the Scottish SPCA informing her Belle had been found, tangled in the roof of the World of Football centre.

Following a successful rescue mission carried out by the Edinburgh firefighters, Belle was safely returned to the ground and reunited with her delighted owner.

Julia Kerr is "over the moon" to have her pet safe at home.

“She was very, very thin when I got her back,” said Ms Kerr. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she has been stuck up there for the whole month.”

Now recovering from the ordeal at home in Chesser, Belle is desperate to get back out in the Capital for more adventures.

“You’d think she’d have learned her lesson but she is already meowing at the door asking to be let out,” said Ms Kerr.

Due to her independent nature Belle is prone to taking off on day long adventures and Ms Kerr was not initially worried about her safety.

“She's a bit of a celebrity in the area, all the neighbours know her, I always get calls from people complaining they'd found her in their bed. She’s quite a gallus cat really.

“I wasn’t worried for the first few days because she likes her adventures and I know she always comes back.

“But as the time went on I started thinking the worst had happened, that she’d been run over or was stuck somewhere, unable to get home.”

Ms Kerr and her daughter printed missing cat posters and posted them through letterboxes, but no calls were received.

Julia Kerr is keeping Belle safe at home in Chesser.

Then on June 21 a call from Scottish SPCA’s brought good news and Ms Kerr rushed to the aid of her sick cat.

The devoted cat owner said: “ I’m so happy to have her back where she belongs and we could not be more thankful to everyone involved.”

Scottish SPCA animal rescue officer Aileen Maybury said: “We are so thankful to World of Football for contacting us. And we are very grateful to our friends at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for rescuing Belle from the roof.”

A message from the Editor:

Belle is already keen to get back outside exploring.

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.