Moggie’s road trip took him on 40km trip across county

A clever Galway cat who went missing for a month had managed to hitchhike his way across the county – and ended up living the life 40 kilometres from home.

It could be the stuff of a soap opera – which is ironic because Bobby the cat is owned by Ros na Rún star Anna Maria Nic Dhonnacha and her family in Beal a’ Dangan, but his big adventure took him to Baile Doite, outside Moycullen.

Anna Maria, who plays aspiring singing star Bobbi Lee in the TG4 soap, believes he must have clawed his way in a Croke’s Concrete truck that had been delivering to her house, and he didn’t get off until they stopped back at base in Moycullen.

“We thought he was gone. We had no idea he’d pop up on my news feed,” says Anna Maria.

“I can’t thank the family enough for taking care of him. God knows what would have happened to Bobby without him. We can’t thank the Galway Cat Rescue enough too,” she adds.

The actress now thinks that, when Bobby didn’t recognise his surroundings, he stayed put at the welcoming family home of Michael and Mary Folan for a few weeks. Their home is just across the road from the concrete manufacturer.

Their daughter Blathnaid Folan said the cat was fed and taken care of by her parents after he landed at their house.

She said it was obvious he was a house cat because he was constantly trying to sneak in the windows, but her parents were reluctant to allow Bobby inside because they didn’t want to disturb their new puppy.

So, Blathnaid said after about a month of taking care of him they called the Galway Cat Rescue and they collected Bobby on Thursday.

The GCR posted Bobby’s picture on their Facebook page in an effort to bring him home to his owners. And thanks to social media, Bobby’s owners saw the post and were reunited with him by Saturday.

Bobby is a year and a half, and Anna Maria got him as a stray when he was kitten; she describes him as a lovable cat who is always in and out.

And his return was just a ‘massive reunion’.

“He was sniffing about, all the other cats pounced on him because they were happy to see him back home again.”