A missing cat shocked his owners when it returned home – after they had accidentally cremated another moggy that looked just like him.

Owners Margaret and John Ross, of Northiam Street, were worried when their pet Amigo did not show up for his breakfast one morning in January.

A neighbourhood search for the cat, who has been a beloved character around Victoria Park for 15 years, ensued.

Mrs Ross said: “We have had him about 16 years. He was a stray and is now about 18 or 19 years old. We were quite worried because he doesn’t usually wander off.”

A week later the couple received a call from a neighbour who had mistakenly identified another cat, lying dead by the road, as Amigo.

Mrs Ross said: “Everybody knows him because he has been sitting outside for years. He is a beautiful long-haired cat and people are always stopping to look at him.

“This other cat was badly injured and it really was his double. We didn’t question if it was him because were expecting him to be that way – we thought he would try to make his way home and would be knocked down by a car. He is totally deaf now.”

But the real Amigo was discovered almost a month after he went missing in Wells Street by a staff member of Goddard Veterinary Group.

As the Hackney practice was about to close, they took him to their Wanstead hospital to be cared for.

Staff at the hospital checked his microchip and contacted the couple to reunite them.

Vet Louise Worth said: “Poor Amigo – He was in a very sorry state when he came in to us. We put him on a drip as he was dehydrated and malnourished. When I contacted Mrs Ross with the good news, she was obviously delighted that he’d been found. His story is the most unusual case of reuniting a pet with its owner that I have encountered and also illustrates the importance of microchipping your pet.”

Mrs Ross said Amigo is now getting back to his usual self.

She said: “I must say for the first week we couldn’t believe we had him back – we had given up on him but he is gradually getting better.

“He had lost a lot of weight – when I saw him I thought it would be to say goodbye, he looked so miserable and dreadful, but he has made a good recovery.”

“He looks at me now if I give him ordinary tinned food, like he is saying: ‘I can do better than that’.”