CHRISTMAS came early this week for cat lover Jeannie Wilkins when her five-year-old tortoiseshell tabby came home - six months after disappearing from her Chapel Cleeve stamping ground. Jeannie had spent thousands of pounds advertising in newspapers as far afield as London and Birmingham after fearing the much loved moggy, Miss Petal, had been accidentally transported out of the area in a vehicle. More than 300 posters were put up locally and the Free Press carried an appeal in August in the hope of reuniting Miss Petal and Jeannie, who lives at Chapel Cleeve Manor. But all attempts to find her drew a blank. However, on Sunday morning bed and breakfast owners Chris and David Holmes - who run Cedar House in Old Cleeve - were alerted by a guest to a distressed cat in one of their outbuildings. Although they had spotted the feline in their garden over the last couple of weeks, she had always run away when approached. "This time she was in the shed and making a terrible noise. She must have come in because of the very cold weather," said Chris. "We thought that it just might be the cat that we'd seen on the posters around the area earlier in the year, so we shut her into the shed quickly." The couple contacted the nearby Pawsawyle Cat Rescue centre, which is where Jeannie got Miss Petal when she was a kitten and whose owners Roy and Ruth Bulpin had helped in the hunt over many months. They immediately went round to Cedar House to check out the captured cat. "We knew right away it was Miss Petal," Ruth told the Free Press. "We compared her to photographs we had and realised she really had come home for Christmas." Jeannie, away in Devon for the weekend, could not be contacted until the following day but was on the rescue centre's doorstep just after 8.30am on Monday. Ruth said: "It was a very emotional reunion, as you can imagine. "It was just wonderful to be able to reunite them and we're all very grateful to everyone who has helped look for Miss Petal in the last six months . "Many people knew about her disappearance and had been asking us recently if there was any news." And for Jeannie, the homecoming was "the best Christmas present in the world". She added: "I never gave up hope and I would have given anything to get her back. "Although she was found less than a mile away from where I live, I believe she may have got into a vehicle, or been frightened off her patch and had just been making her way back. "I just cried for England when I realised she had been found and I haven't stopped since. I'm just so glad to have her back and can't begin to thank all the people who have given their support over the last six months and shown such kindness. "When you don't have children, your pets mean so very much to you. She's lost quite a bit of weight and her coat is dull but apart from that she seems to have survived the ordeal without any lasting problems." Miss Petal was reunited with her three brothers and sisters, her mother and Jeannie's original cat Mr Button and is now busy getting her paws back under the family table. Photo: Steve Guscott