Emma Spink happy to be reunited with Buster

by Chris Hunter

“There's no one like Macavity,” wrote T.S. Eliot in his ode to the most mysterious of his poetic cats, the master feline criminal with a supernatural ability to evade detection.

But then Eliot had never met Buster.

The adventurous Siamese-tabby cross developed a habit of disappearing in his younger days, but when he failed to return after going missing from his Pembury home five years ago, owner Emma Spink thought Buster had finally vanished for good.

That was until wandering Buster, now aged 11, resurfaced 18 miles away at a veterinary surgery in Bearsted.

Having been seen lurking in a garden for a few days, Buster had been handed in – then identified from his microchip.

“When he went missing the last time I didn’t think a lot of it for 24 hours,” said Mrs Spink, 37. “Once we got past the maximum time he’d been gone before, I started to worry.

“I put posters up and went around door to door. Then I put an advert in the paper. I got a lot of phone calls and went off to see many, many tabby cats. People would say 'yes I’ve got him here’ and I would go rushing off only to say 'that’s not him.’ It was really disappointing.”

Since then Mrs Spink has got two new cats – another Siamese, Claude, and a rescue cat, Poppy – and her daughter Esme, who was a one-year-old baby when he went missing, is now aged six.

She had long given up realistically hoping for Buster’s return, when the phone call came.

“They said we’ve got your cat here,” she added. “At first I thought 'no you haven’t because both my cats are here.’ Then I thought 'oh my God, you’ve got my old cat.’

“We went straight off to get him, and before we got into the room I could hear him. I thought 'that’s definitely him.’ It was a big shock.”

Until someone comes forward with information, Buster’s mystery years will remain undocumented, and only he knows whether or not they were filled with wild adventure on the long road from Pembury to Maidstone or contented hours asleep on a secret sofa.

Mrs Spink – who works as admin manager with husband Trevor’s web design company, Eonic – believes the adventure began with a trip in van, which Buster might have jumped into out of curiosity.

Whatever he’s been up to, Buster seems perfectly relaxed about it, but is happy to be back home nonetheless.

“As soon as I picked him up he started purring,” she added. “I would like to think he recognised me – he’s been very cuddly ever since.”

Has your cat done a bunk longer than Buster's? Let us know below.