PETAL the cat had strayed a very long way from home when Poole residents found him in their garden.

They were hoping to adopt the grey and white puss, when a microchip revealed he actually belonged to the Mayor of High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire.

The three-year-old wanderer was reunited with owner Jane White on Wednesday after more than four weeks apart.

His adventure will remain a mystery to Jane, who welled up when vets at Ark-Aid, in Canford Heath, called with the news from 110 miles away.

Jane said: “We have no idea how he got to Dorset whatsoever.

“At first we thought he had gone off courting because he spent a few nights away, then left and just didn’t come back.

“We didn’t think anything had happened to him, but that he must have just gone to live with someone else for a bit.”

Ideas about Petal’s journey are that he was catnapped or just stowed away in a car. “But he was making an awful racket on the drive home, so I just don’t think it could have been that,” Jane said.

“Anyone would have heard him crying.

“It will be lovely having him back. We’ve bought new bowls for him and all his favourite foods. There’s a nice bit of cod waiting for him, followed by some milk and sugar like he has every night-time – he’s quite a pampered cat.”

Ark-Aid’s head vet Sue Wheeler says the happy ending proves how important it is to get your pets microchipped for just £20.

“Petal was lovely and friendly,” she said. “The family who found him were going to adopt him before we found the chip.

“He’s certainly a well-travelled cat, however he got here.”