A little girl whose black cat keeps going missing for days at a time is worried someone else is trying to adopt her beloved pet.

Mystery: Daniella Sandeman with her cat, Sooty, who keeps disappearing

Sooty the cat has disappeared three times in the last few weeks - and each time arrives back at the family home in Bray Road, Fulford, York, minus the name disc on his collar.

Mum Antonia Sandeman said Sooty was her eight-year-old daughter Daniella's cat and each time he went missing she got more upset.

She appealed to whoever was taking him in and removing the discs to let him come home.

She said: "It started happening just before Christmas. The disc has his name and my phone number on and there's no way it could come off by itself.

"We don't know if he's being kept in and he gets out and comes back home. He's getting well fed. Whoever he's going to must know he's got a home.

"I wish they would realise he is a little girl's pet and she feeds it - it's gone beyond a joke.

"We used to have another cat Sweep, Sooty's mother, and someone took her away and Daniella feels every time Sooty goes away that it has happened again.

"We have to put her to bed crying. Last time he went she stood at the door shouting 'Sooty' with some food and milk and went out on her bike looking for him."

Sooty is now safe at home after his third trip away and Antonia is hoping that if he makes another expedition he comes back a lot sooner.

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