For 10 years, a Siamese cat living in New Zealand has been leading a double life with two different families.
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| Photo by Jack Dong on Unsplash |
Now the two Wellington families are caught up in custody battle - over a cat.
Known as Ming to the Alexander family and Cleo to the Smith family, the pedigree cat was bought by Alice Alexander and named Ming in 2000.
He was named for his tendency to mingle and Ms Alexander said the family often got calls from neighbours telling them Ming was at their house.
After moving to Strathmore - in southern Wellington - in 2005, Ming would disappear for extended periods of time before making his way back home, well-fed and not wearing his collar which bore his name and a contact number of the family.
But soon he started disappearing more often and then the cat vanished altogether in 2010 for four years.
Out of the blue, Ming re-appeared on the roof of Alexanders' glasshouse in May earlier this year after they had canvassed the neighbourhood with missing cat posters when he decamped.
'I picked it up and realised it was Ming. I was running scenarios through my head, wondering where he had been,' Ms Alexander said.
To make sure he would not disappear again, she had Ming microchipped and bought him another collar.
But he went missing again, this time turning up a month later with the hair shaved off his leg and it was obvious he had recently been to see a veterinarian.
Ms Alexander concluded that someone else had been looking after him so the family put up more missing cat posters.
A week later, another family contacted the Alexanders and soon it emerged their beloved cat had been living a separate life with the Smiths who lived nearby.
The reason why Ming went missing for four years was because the Smiths had taken him with them when they moved away from Strathmore and the family had just recently moved back to the area.
Glenda Smith had no idea the cat was owned by someone else until she came across one of the Alexanders' missing cat posters.
Cleo - as he was known to the Smiths - was owned by Ms Smith's husband before they were married and he had taken the cat in after he thought he was a stray because it spent so much time at his place.
'Cleo is part of the family and been with us for nine years, we can't just push him away now. It's emotional for us too, he loves us and always come back,' Ms Smith said.
The Siamese cat's future is still unclear until they figure out who will get custody of the cat, with both saying they want him to be happy.
'It's so difficult, we love him so much and want him to be happy but worried the family will move. Ming is 15 years old now and deserves to retire. He shouldn't have to try and reclaim territory,' Ms Alexander said.
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