Basingstoke kitten that ran away is found in Belgium

Anita Adamecz, who lives in Norn Hill, lost her kitten, Munch, while stopping for a toilet break in Belgium, en route to Hungary with her two daughters last year.

Despite being kept on a lead, Munch, who wasn't even one-year-old at the time, managed to escape and run off into the nearby Belgian woodland.

After four hours of searching, the family made the difficult choice of leaving without Munch.

Munch receives a lot of attention (Image: Anita Adamecz )

Anita said: "Despite hours of searching, calling, and desperately hoping he would come back, it became clear that we could not find him.

"After more than four hours, with two very young daughters exhausted in the back seat, we had no choice but to continue our journey with broken hearts."

The family were devastated, but Anita said they did not give up hope, and shared social media posts about their missing cat on several Belgian cat-lover Facebook pages.

"What followed completely restored our faith in people," she said, "Total strangers offered help selflessly — printing and distributing flyers, keeping an eye out for him, and regularly sending us photos of similar cats they had spotted.

"Their kindness and dedication, even months later, was truly overwhelming."

Munch's foster family in Belgium (Image: Anita Adamecz )

Following an extensive hunt for the missing feline, Anita received the news she had "hardly dared to hope for" in January - Munch had been found - identified by his microchip and taken in by a foster family "who cared for him lovingly until we could collect him."

Anita's daughter, Noemi, will never forget her seventh birthday, as Munch's return coincided with celebrations on the same day.

Anita added: "We picked him up last week — on our daughter’s birthday — which made it an unforgettable and emotional day for our whole family.

"Seeing him again, happy, healthy, and clearly recognising us, was beyond words. When we finally let him out of his carrier at home, it was obvious he knew he was back where he belonged after four long months apart."

She stressed the importance of microchipping pets, even those kept indoors, as she believes without one, Munch would never have returned home.

She said: "This experience has taught us an important lesson we would love to pass on -microchips are absolutely vital — even for indoor cats.

"Without it, this happy ending might never have happened.

"We are forever grateful to the incredible people who helped us across borders, languages, and countries. Their kindness brought our family back together."