A CAT lover is rejoicing after vets used microchip technology to identify her missing cat to its owners her after nine months.

Mary Hobden, 78, lost Candy last August after her daughter’s dog chased the cat out into the garden.

Ms Hobden, of Rowan Avenue, Hangleton, said kept an eye out for Candy, contacted Lost Cats Brighton, put up posters around, and put notes through doors – but to no avail.

Neighbours spotted a moggy in the area but her nervous nature meant it was difficult for people to pick her up.

Eventually a woman in Poplar Avenue spotted the cat in her shed last week and took the animal to her vet, who identified her as Candy.

Candy had been roaming within just a half-mile radius of her home and, after nine months searching, Miss Hobden was reunited with her that very day.

She said: “I was so excited, you really get to know cats and all their little ways.

“I called her by her name and she knew me and she just carried on playing.

“She was surprisingly OK, a little bit thin but she was very clean.

“She is a white cat but she was very clean so I feel like she may have had another sort of home in the months she was missing.”

Candy was first adopted two years ago from Lost Cats Brighton, which microchips every animal before it allows people to adopt them.

Miss Hobden said: “It’s such a good idea to get your pets microchipped.

“Absolutely with cats, I mean that’s how she was traced back to me.

“If you love them you don’t want to lose them.”

Lost Cats Brighton is a cat rescue and rehoming charity based in Valley Road, Portslade.