Animal-lover Nicci Knight got the shock of her life when her beloved cat, Ted, arrived home – four days after he’d been cremated.

Nicci was halfway through a family holiday in Turkey when she received a heartbreaking message, revealing poor Ted had been found dead back home in North Yorkshire.

She was relaxing by the pool in the resort of Dalaman when the message came through on her mobile phone – via her video doorbell – in the North Yorkshire village of Newby, near Stokesley.

Nicci burst into tears when her neighbours’ children even held up five-year-old Ted’s distinctive black and white body to the camera as proof of his untimely passing after being found dead in their garden pond.

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However, four days later, Elise, who was also popping in to feed Ted’s sister, Moosh, made a traumatised call to say: “You’re not going to believe this – Ted’s just walked in through the cat-flap!”

“I thought I was seeing a cat-ghost,” exclaimed Elise.

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Nicci immediately called Heavenly Pets to alert them to the mistake but was told the cremation had already taken place.

“It’s not Ted – it’s a lookalike!” Nicci found herself yelling down the phone.

It led to the ashes of the doppelganger moggie being temporarily stored in a container labelled: “Not dead Ted.”