The Force is clearly strong with Yoda the black cat, who has been reunited with his ecstatic owner after going missing 15 years ago.

Herts Advertiser: Yoda back home after 15 years.Yoda back home after 15 years. (Image: Archant)

His unexpected return to Helen Walls in Harpenden last Thursday, February 16, is thanks to a ‘very kind lady’ who discovered the scrawny feline in a school field, and took him to the nearest vets.

Luckily Yoda had been micro-chipped when he was – in Star Wars terminology – just a young apprentice. So once the veterinary surgery run by Alistair Poole in Luton Road had identified him, Helen was immediately contacted.

However, she was initially confused, as her other cat was sitting beside her at home. The vet confirmed that Yoda had been found, and added that it was unusual to have a moggy returned to their home after being missing for such a long time.

Helen said: “We went straight down to the vets to see him. When I saw that Yoda was scrawny, and looked tired, I just cried. He is painfully thin, but he is a very old man.”

Seventeen years ago, when Helen brought home two cute black kittens for her daughter, Emily, she named one Furbie and the other Yoda, “because he looked like Yoda from Star Wars, except he wasn’t green!

“I like Star Wars, and I liked that name. Furbie was the alpha cat, and he just kept bullying Yoda, and I think he kept going further and further away.”

When he went missing 15 years ago, Helen would walk around neighbouring fields, searching and calling for him, but to no avail.

She was stunned last week, then, when, “a really lovely lady called Laura at The King School in Harpenden, who lives onsite, brought him to the vets. She is so happy about us being reunited because she didn’t think anyone owned him.”

After sharing the heartwarming story on Facebook, Yoda’s purr-fect ending has been celebrated by animal lovers across the globe, including in America, while in Harpenden, one woman was apparently so happy for Helen that she ‘burst into tears’ at the good news.

Helen said: “Yoda has settled back into his home quite quickly, but he is so scrawny. He gets up and eats, and uses the cat litter, and goes back to sleep again. Although he isn’t moving much, he is purring quite a lot. I think he is comfortable – he seems quite partial to tuna fillet and crabmeat.

“The vet told me that Yoda has no muscles on his body, and he is skeletal. I think he must have spent weeks on the fields, and I don’t know how much longer he could have stayed out there.

“I just can’t believe he’s home!”