A GIRL of 10 has been reunited with her lost cat - thanks to the Sheerness Times Guardian newspaper.

Katy Stock was devastated when her ginger cat Benjie disappeared on May 11, just two days after her family moved from Alexander Road to Halfway Road, Sheerness.

Although the family had various reports of sightings of ginger cats, they feared the worst. Katy, her 12-year-old sister Leanne and baby brother Charlie, two, were bought a new kitten to fill the gap but Katy continued to sleep with her ginger stuffed toy cat.

Her mother Hayley said: "She was so devastated. We had given up hope. We had tried all the vets on Sheppey and heard nothing."

Then last week, Sheppey Cats' Protection League secretary Karen Anderson contacted the Sheerness Times Guardian to say a ginger cat had found its way to her house, also in Halfway Road. The Stocks read an appeal for information in last week's paper and have now been reunited with Benjie.

Mrs Stock said: "As soon as Katy walked up he ran straight up to her. He knew exactly who she was."

Benjie, who was given to the Danley Middle School pupil as a fifth birthday present, is now being kept under close surveillance at home.

* Karen Anderson has another lost or abandoned cat in her care. The black cat, thought to be male and aged between two and four, was rescued from a field at the top of Holmside Avenue, Halfway, on Sunday Anyone who knows who the cat belongs to can call 01795 667418.