Toffee the cat: illness stops reunion

Toffee the beloved feline turned stray cat cannot be reunited with his owner due to medical conditions he developed while sleeping rough.

Toffee (pictured) was found in the Brisbane suburb of Yeronga wandering the streets flee-ridden and underweight.

A social media campaign launched by Rescue Cats and Kittens Brisbane found Toffee's owner who is now in Hong Kong.

Toffee, originally from Auckland, was adopted by May Poon as a stray. The pair later moved to Tauranga and then to Brisbane where Ms Poon had to leave her beloved cat with friends.

"One of my friends' daughters loved Toffee, so they told me they would look after Toffee. I didn't realise after a while they let him become a stray.

"It's horrible I did email asking how Toffee was doing.

"The email which I got back from them where the grandmother had written: 'the best thing about Toffee is when I wake up I can hear my granddaughter laughing with him'.

"I took that as a very good sign he had settled in well."

Ms Poon said Rescue Cats and Kittens Brisbane informed her that Toffee had been on the streets for years.

"I am really, really upset about it."

Ms Poon originally wanted to have Toffee moved to Hong Kong with her but unfortunately he now has a chronic respiratory condition and other complications caused by living on the street, which meant it was no longer safe for him to fly.

Ms Poon would return to Brisbane in the new year to check on Toffee and make a plan on what to do with him.