The owner of a missing cat from Tooting has said that she is ‘so relieved’ after they tracked the feline to Ascot.

Nutmeg, the cat owned by Sandra Sinclair, a teacher from south-west London, was found wandering the streets in the Berkshire town after going missing from her home in Tooting.

Sinclair credits the microchip that was scanned by Cats Protection prior to her disappearance for her rediscovering.

Ms Sinclair said: “We have no idea how he got to Ascot. Did he jump into a delivery van or maybe someone attempted to steal him because he was so friendly?

“Only Nutmeg will ever know, but my family and I are just so relieved we had him microchipped.”

This comes as the new laws are due to come into effect after the disappearance of a growing number of cars across the country.

From Monday, June 10, it is now mandatory for every pet cat in England to be chipped before the age of 20 weeks.

Ministers hope the scheme will help reunite thousands of lost pets with their owners and deter pet theft.

But of the estimated nine million pet cats in England, up to 2.2 million are still not chipped, according to data from the charity Cats Protection.

Owners who haven’t microchipped their cats after 30 days will face a fine of £500.

Madison Rogers, head of advocacy, campaigns and government relations for Cats Protection, said: “Some owners think they are never going to go through the trauma of losing their pet cat, but in the last year 115,000 pet cats in England went missing and never returned home.

“Cats are nimble and extremely agile and can easily slip out without us noticing.”