BENNY the little stray cat whose plight made headlines in the Advertiser last week has found a new home just in the nick of time.

The black and white moggy was living rough near Johanna Edgar’s home and in spite of many calls to animal charities she couldn’t find anyone to take him in.

Although she and her neighbours were making sure he didn’t go hungry, she was worried he wouldn’t survive much longer.

Worse still she was preparing to move away from the area.

But cat lovers who read his story came forward eager to offer his a new home. One of the callers was Melanie Jack from Royal Wootton Bassett whose two elderly cats had recently died.

Now Benny is starting a new life with her family.

Johanna said: “I’m so glad I know he is not on the street. I was sad to see him go but he was happy. He went straight into her cat basket.”

She was relieved because she was due to move to Swansea within a few days and didn’t want to leave him to fend for himself.

Several people responded to the story, but at one point during a bout of bad weather Benny disappeared, leading Johanna to fear the worst.

But a few days ago he reappeared. “We were just about to leave to go to the hospital for an appointment. We walked out and he was just there. We called him and he came over so we put him inside until we came back,” said Johanna.

“We were quite lucky. All morning we were looking for him. It was tipping down with rain and we just couldn’t find him.”

When Melanie turned up Benny took to her immediately. “She picked him up and he was fine. He was snuggled in and everything.

“I was happy because I could see that he was happy. It was raining that night and I was glad he was inside.”

Benny, who had an appointment with the vet yesterday for the snip, is now settling in to a new life. He is being kept indoors at the moment and will gradually be introduced to the Jack family dog.

Melanie said yesterday. “He’s beautiful. He’s tinier than I expected but he is a friendly little boy and he has taken to indoor life quite well.”

She said if her previous cats, who both died this summer at the age of 18, had still been alive she would not have been able to take him in. “It was kind of the right time that he came along.”