A CAT that was rehomed after going missing for two years seems to have adapted so well to living in the wild that he refuses to live in the house of his new owners.

We reported how eight-year-old cat Harvey was rehomed after disappearing from a home in Bromyard Road, St John's, Worcester, in 2007, only to turn up round the corner in Laugherne Road.

His original owner could not take him back but he is now with Sally Candlin and her partner Martin Law, from Grange Road, Broadheath, near Worcester.

Ms Candlin says that for the first week or so, Harvey was happy and friendly, while he was kept confined indoors. But things changed for the worse about a week-and-a-half ago, when Harvey was let out of the couple’s house for the first time.

Ms Candlin said: “He just refused to come back in after he went out. He will dash back into the kitchen for meals, but won’t allow us to close the back door so that he can run back out as soon as he’s finished.

“He’s like a ‘scaredy-cat’ because he’s scared of being indoors.” But despite not liking being inside, it seems Harvey has adapted well to being outside. “He’s as fit as a flea,” said Ms Candlin. “He can be outside in the pouring rain, but when he comes in for his food he’s not even wet. You don’t really see him wandering about either, I think he just sits at the bottom of next door’s garden.”

Ms Candlin thinks that the only way of curing Harvey of his fear is with a trip to a cat psychiatrist. She said: “I read about a woman in Kent. If only she was closer, I would definitely give her a call.”