It’s always tragic when a pet goes missing – and once a furry friend has been gone several months, most people give up hope of ever seeing them again.

Which is exactly what makes this story, from Twitter user @ngvhi, so amazing.

“I can’t believe this is real because I am still in shock but my first pet ever, my cat Panther, just came home today after going missing FIVE YEARS AGO,” Nguhi excitedly wrote.

“I’m still sobbing. He came up to my dad outside started purring & rubbed up against him. He took him inside & he went straight to his favourite spot. We declawed panther’s front claws & left his back. THIS CAT HAS NO FRONT CLAWS EITHER. Everything else is the same, it’s really him.”

After her cat, Panther, went missing, he turned up in a shelter in the next city, where he was adopted by a woman living in another city, who renamed him Charlie. 

When Charlie’s new owner could no longer care for him, she passed him on to her parents – who just happened to be Nguhi’s next door neighbours.

It was then that she realised that Panther and Charlie were the same cat. 

“Our neighbours were as flabbergasted as us and insisted we keep him because he was really ours,” she wrote. “We decided to give him back since he was comfortable there, and we already have a dog and cat. It was heartbreaking but I can’t even be sad because today was truly surreal”. 

Naturally, the internet loved the heartwarming story. 

Nguhi’s neighbours have also told her she can visit Panther/Charlie whenever she wants; meanwhile, she’s looking after their husky, Trotsky, who was too much for them to handle. 

And a Panther film, complete with moving ending and bonus husky? Sign us up immediately. 

Images: Nathan Riley / Unsplash