A cat charity is appealing to owners to register their micro-chips to allow lost animals to be returned.

The plea has come from Wharfe Valley Cats Protection after a lost cat was found wandering around Horsforth. The animal, nicknamed Tilly, has been micro-chipped but the chip wasn’t registered.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: “All we know is that the Beverley and Pocklington branch of the Cats Protection bought the micro-chip in 2008, so presumably homed Tilly somewhere in their area, probably in 2008. They leave the registering of micro-chips to the new owner, but sadly it was never done.” She said Tilly, who was wearing a new collar, was a confident cat with no fear of vehicles.

She added: “We come across many cats with unregistered micro-chips But cats even come to us with registered micro-chips where the owners have moved house and not updated the records.

“So a plea to everyone who has a micro-chipped pet: do make sure yours is fully registered to the address you are living at now and with your current phone number.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the charity via the website at wharfevalley@cats.org.uk or on 0845 1947 292 ext 4.