It has been a decade since Peanut the cat last enjoyed cuddles with his owners.

Thetford & Brandon Times: Peanut the cat, who went missing from his home in Watton, Norfolk 10 years ago, and will now finally be reunited with his owner after he was handed in to Cats Protection in Dereham. Picture: CATS PROTECTIONPeanut the cat, who went missing from his home in Watton, Norfolk 10 years ago, and will now finally be reunited with his owner after he was handed in to Cats Protection in Dereham. Picture: CATS PROTECTION (Image: Archant)

But now the adorable feline, who went missing from his home in Watton in 2009, is to be reunited with Julie Terry and her daughter Holly, who were “gobsmacked” to learn that their pet had been found.

Peanut went missing shortly after Miss Terry’s family moved to Norfolk from Ely, and he has been living almost as a stray ever since.

Miss Terry said she was shocked when Dereham-based Cats Protection called to say he had been brought in.

She said: “It was unbelievable. I actually had a pain my chest.

“He was such a beautiful cat. We never thought we would see him again.”

Miss Terry said someone, who, it turned out, lived just down the road from her old home in Watton, had been keeping Peanut fed.

She said: “I was told that an elderly man was feeding him but he couldn’t do it any longer and so his daughter brought him into Cats Protection.

“We never forgot him. There has always been a picture of him in the sitting room.”

Yvonne Durant, receptionist at Dereham-based Cats Protection, said when Peanut was brought in he had dirty ears and bad breath but was generally in good health, although he needed some dental care.

She said they were able to find his owners because he was microchopped, proving how important that was.

She said: “It makes our job a lot easier.

“We could reunite many more lost pets back to their owners if they had them. It gives you such a nice feeling to be able to reunite someone with a lost pet.”

Miss Terry said Peanut was a gift to Holly when she was about seven in 2006, when he was a kitten.

But he broke out of his cat flap a week after they had moved, as he had been allowed outside at their old house and obviously didn’t like being stuck inside.

The family moved back to Cambridgeshire a year ago, giving up hope of finding him again.

They’re now looking forward to coming to Dereham on Friday to pick up Peanut.