Yahoo News Tabby cat living a 'secret life' ends up miles from home after jumping on buses and trains
A curious cat - aptly named George - has become the most famous cat in Scotland as he regularly hitches lifts to far-flung towns and villages, living what his owners describe as a “secret life”.
George the tabby sneaks onto public transport, meaning he turns up miles away from his home in Helensburgh, Argyll.
Becoming well-known in the area in shops and supermarkets.
The seven-year-old rescue cat regularly goes missing from his owners Dennis and Elizabeth Royal - once turning up 14 miles from their home.
George was missing for two weeks before he was eventually found 14 miles from his home, near Loch Lomond after hitching a ride on a bus.
The couple have now set up a Facebook page, which has 800 followers, the purpose of which is for people to post photos and comments to report sightings of their pet.
The furry trekker has also been found chaperoning school children on a school trip to the zoo, he's a regular at his local chapel, the pub, perusing the aisles at Tesco express and waiting at the local railway station for the train doors to open to let him on.
He was even a guest at a child's birthday party.
Mr and Mrs Royal have set up a Go Fund Me page to try and raise money for a GPS collar to track down his location.
Their daughter, Jackie Hood, 50, who runs the social media page for them, said: “When he is out he has a secret life.
"The local primary school had a trip to the safari park. I am not sure how but George managed to sneak into the bus and fortunately the bus stopped and chucked him out before arriving there.
"He has got into a few local buses a few times too.
"He has also got into a train going to Edinburgh and a ScotRail staff member messaged me to say they had to put him out.
"You never know where he is going, we just find out once he has been caught.
"I set up a Facebook page for him about three months ago and that's how I started finding out about his weird adventures."
Elizabeth Royal, 82, said: “"People seem to love him, he certainly has a lot of followers."
She said: "Dennis suffers from dementia and he loves him. George lies on his knee and they fall asleep together.”
Mrs Royal said that she had no idea what he was up to until the Facebook page for him was set up about three months ago.
“That's how I started finding out about his weird adventures and how popular he is.
"Everyone knows him."
