Muffin the miracle cat returns after five weeks away.

Eastern Daily Press: Muffin and her brother GusMuffin and her brother Gus (Image: Jason Duggan)

Jason and Danielle Duggan have had a Christmas miracle, thanks to the return of their beloved cat Muffin.

Muffin had been missing for almost five weeks, when a photo of her appeared on Lost and Found Cats in Norwich's Facebook page.

Muffin had been missing since November 11, and was returned last weekend, having been found three miles away.

Muffin's owner, Jason Duggan, said: 'It was a completely normal day: we just let her out but she never came home.

'My wife and I put up posters and updated them regularly, but that only resulted in a few false alarm calls.'

His wife, Danielle Duggan, added: 'And then we were tagged in a post on Sunday about a cat that had followed someone home in Trinity Street.

'The post said the cat was very distressed and confused, and was very thin.

'At first they thought it was a male, but it looked so like Muffin I asked them to check.'

At this point, one of the administrators of the facebook page, Gina Blake, stepped in and offered to scan the cat's microchip.

'The microchip confirmed that the cat was Muffin, and Gina even offered to drive her home that night!' Mrs Duggan, from Bowthorpe, said.

'We have no idea how Muffin travelled so far,' said Mrs Duggan.

'When she came home she was very thin, she'd lost half a kilo, and was covered in black marks, so we think she had been sleeping rough.

'She could have jumped into the back of a van or car to have gone that far. She was found a 15-minute drive away.'

The Duggans also own Muffin's mother, Bella, and brother Gus.

'They were so distressed,' said Mrs Duggan, a deputy care manager. 'They missed her so much.'

'All we can say is thank you to Gina,' Mrs Duggan added. 'She was brilliant, she went out to microchip Muffin at the drop of a hat, and dropped her home too.

'If anything we just want to make people aware how important micro chipping your pet is. It's easy to do the right thing by them, and if they're not micro chipped they can be re homed and lost forever.'

Muffin is now home with her brother and mother, who are glad to have her back.

'We're so glad she's home,' said Mrs Duggan. 'We thought we'd never see her again.'