A cat shelter has highlighted the importance of getting pets microchipped, after a tabby was reunited with its owner after 10 years.

Staff at Burford's Blue Cross animal sanctuary reunited Lynx with her owners after the cat spent a decade on the run.

But no-one will ever know how the 12-year-old female tabby ended up in Carterton - more than 60 miles from home.

Not that that bothers relieved owner Patricia Charnet, who had all but given up hope of ever seeing her beloved moggy again.

"It is unbelievable. It is a wonderful feeling," she said. "If only she could talk, she would have a story to tell."

Lynx was just two years old when she went missing from the family home in Hook, Hampshire, in 1997.

According to Blue Cross spokesman Mandy Jones, Lynx was brought in to their Shilton Road centre after she had been seen wandering around farmland near Carterton. "Someone who saw her became concerned and, after capturing the animal, brought it to us," she said.

"She was in good condition and we went through our normal check to see if she was microchipped. Fortunately she was, but it took some detective work to trace the owner.

"I still can't believe we were able to reunite her with her owner after such a long time. It goes to show how important microchipping is."

Microchips are implanted beneath an animal's skin and carry a barcode which can be easily scanned. The number that comes up can be easily checked with Petlog, a national catalogue, but in Lynx's case, her owner's telephone number had changed. When they finally tracked down Ms Charnet, they were amazed to discover the cat had been missing for 10 years.

Blue Cross staff named her Bagpuss, but Lynx now has her old name back, as well as her doting owner - and a companion cat which the family had bought to replace her.