A Canberra woman and her cat, Zeffa, have been reunited after more than six years.

The RSPCA says Zeffa’s family had only recently moved to Canberra around 2017 when the six-year-old cat escaped on the same evening as a large storm hit the region.

“He’s microchipped, so after we couldn’t find him, we hoped that eventually he’d wind up at a vet and they’d scan his microchip and give me a call,” said Zeffa’s media-shy owner, a former vet nurse.

“But the call never came and, unfortunately, we thought he must be dead.”

RSPCA CEO Michelle Robertson says Zeffa turned up at its Weston shelter on Tuesday, January 9, as a stray, “but seemed friendly and comfortable around people, indicating to our staff that he’s been living in a home and not on the streets”.

Zeffa’s owner says she doesn’t hold a grudge against whoever had been caring for the cat, but wanted to remind people to always take a lost animal to a vet and not to feed (and unofficially adopt) someone’s missing pet.

“If whoever found him would have taken him to the RSPCA ACT or a vet immediately, I would have got him back sooner,” she says. “I don’t think he was stolen.”

Ms Robertson says many lost animals are reunited with their owners when their microchip details are correct, but the system only works if people take animals they find to a vet or the RSPCA.

“Pets are like family members to most owners, and taking an animal you’ve found to a vet or the RSPCA for microchip scanning won’t cost you anything and could mean a much-loved pet could be reunited quickly with their worried owners,” she says.