MEET the two-year-old moggy who has already used up a number of his nine lives.

Lucky cat Riley was returned to his owners Carol Ratcliffe and her son Stephen after going missing for 12 months but it is not the first time the family pet has got into a scrape.

He had to be hand reared by Stephen, aged 35, after he was abandoned with three siblings on a vet's doorstep when they were only one to three-days-old.

Carol, aged 53, said: "Stephen fed him milk on a spoon and had to treat him like a baby teaching him how to do everything including moving his paws so he knew to scratch in his litter tray.

"He never used to go out much but decided the night he went missing he wanted to go out twice and then didn't come back.

"We put posters everywhere and through neighbours' doors and for weeks I would go out shouting his name and would look down side streets whenever I was in the car.

"When we got the call he had been found I was just screaming down the phone."

Riley was only one-year-old when he went missing on August 28, 2014 from his home on Fothergill Street, Fairfield and and was found near Toys 'R' Us in Gemini on August 4 this year by Jo White, who works for animal charity Paws 'n' Claws rescue and her friend Nicola while they were out walking.

They called another friend Karen Mercer from Chapelford Pet Sitting Service to pick them up with Riley and took him home to scan him for a microchip.

Carol, who says she is still smiling now, added: "I can't thank them enough for what they did. It was a dream come true.

"They thought it was a strange place for a cat to be so decided to get him scanned.

"We have got no idea what happened to him but the vet said his fur was quite coarse which might mean he had been living outside.

"He hasn't been keen on going out since we have got him back but chipping him was the best money I have ever spent and even now I still keep shaking my head and can't believe he's back."

Stephen is now donating all the sponsorship money he raises during endurance event Tough Mudder on September 13 to Paws 'n' Claws as a thank you.

Find out more about Paws 'n' Claws Rescue here.