A MIRACLE moggy who has a hole in his heart is back in the safe arms of his owner.

Foxy, a six-year-old long-haired ginger cat, had vanished from his Bishopstoke home.

The cat with a wandering spirit had been missing for nearly two weeks - longer than his previous disappearing act.

His owner, 23-year-old Emma Robbie, who is head veterinary nurse at Bishopstoke's Riverside Veterinary Surgery, feared that he would not survive if did not get tablets for a rare heart condition.

She said: "Foxy is supposed to have two tablets a day. One to increase blood flow and the other to stop fluid building up on the chest."

The animal also needs a low salt diet for his heart and good quality protein food.

Foxy enjoys to roam when he disappears through the cat flap at his Olympic Way home into the wide open world.

He is also a cat that cries out for attention and enjoys having his coat brushed.

Emma was concerned that Foxy, keen to lap up affection, might have been sheltering at a home where a well-meaning person was perhaps feeding him the wrong food.

She says: "If he does not get the right food and his tablets his condition will worsen."

But Foxy is now back home after he was found taking shelter just down the road.

Emma said: "It is good to have him back. We have given him some blood tests and he seems fit and well."

He has been kept under observation at the Riverside Veterinary Surgery. Foxy really is a cat that nearly did not get nine lives. For six years ago when he was brought into the Riverside as a stray he was just a ball of fluff.

Emma said: "He was only three weeks old and very cold and weak."

He was taken under the wing of the Riverside staff and was nurtured with the help of hot water bottles and special substitute milk.

When it was discovered that Foxy had a serious heart problem it was feared that he would not have long to live.

But Emma, who adopted the loveable cat, said: "He was expected to live no longer than a couple of days but he has gone on for six years. He really is a miracle cat."

Meanwhile Emma is making sure that he does not stray too far again.