A relieved family has been reunited with their cat more than a month after a stranger allegedly snatched the beloved pet and then abandoned it.
Ralph disappeared from his family home in Yanchep, 60 kilometers northwest of Perth, on May 10.
Owner Wayne England told Daily Mail Australia it was his wife Renee who first raised the alarm after Ralph didn’t show up for breakfast.
“Ralph would be here (at home) at 5:30 or six in the morning and about the same time at night because that’s the time Renée leaves and goes (to work),” he said.
Wayne England (pictured with Ralph) and his wife Renee noticed their beloved cat missing on May 10.
“That was the time they fed him and he just didn’t show up (that morning) and once the day went by and (he) didn’t show up for dinner, we knew something wasn’t right.”
Mr. England explained that Ralph frequently visited neighboring houses in the area, but always returned.
His wife began searching for security camera footage to try to find out what happened to Ralph.
“On Friday night he had not returned,” Mr England said.
The couple then uploaded posts to local Facebook groups to spread the word in a desperate attempt to locate the cat.
“For the last month we have been searching for him day and night,” he said.
The distraught homeowners were then notified of an alarming social media post.
A woman claimed her partner’s co-worker had ‘bragged’ to her about him. who trapped a cat on his property (in Yanchep) before taking it to Mayree, an industrial suburb 70 kilometers south of Perth and (allegedly) dumping the cat.
Refusing to believe this version of events, Mr England drove to Myaree the night his wife told him about the woman’s post.
The former mechanic visited a company mentioned in the post, but couldn’t find Ralph and returned home.
After returning to Yanchep at 3 a.m. the next day, he decided to drive around the block before seeing a car that had the same name as the business he had visited in Myaree just hours before.
“I Googled the business and their name came up, which was the name of the guy in the (Facebook) post,” England said.
England said he and his wife immediately took action by notifying locals on the Facebook group that Ralph (pictured) was missing, after he failed to show up several days later.
England said Ralph (pictured) often went to neighboring houses in the area, but the father-of-two said he always returned home.
Mr England, who had never met the man and did not know he lived just 200 meters from his house, confronted him on Mother’s Day morning and asked where Ralph was.
“He denied knowing anything about it and several hours later admitted everything,” she said.
England then started his own Facebook page, ‘Help Find Ralph,’ and sent out nearly 400 flyers to people, including residents living in Myaree, to locate the beloved pet.
“We had so many people just message us and say, ‘Is there anything we can do to help?'” he said.
Mr England and his wife spent countless hours driving to and from Myaree in their search for their lost cat.
Renee (pictured) fought back tears when she was reunited with cat Ralph on Tuesday.
The couple and their children were reunited with Ralph on Tuesday, 33 days after he disappeared.
Mr England received a text message from a Myaree local with photographs of Ralph.
His wife immediately recognized Ralph from the black spots on his back and immediately ran to Myaree to pick up her pet.
“Upon hearing this, Renee left her desk like the building was on fire to meet up with our missing colleague Ralph,” England wrote on Facebook.
“We couldn’t begin to explain to everyone how happy we are to have our friend back where he belongs.”