PEOPLE in Helensburgh and far beyond have been thanked for their help in spreading the word after the town's most famous cat went AWOL.

George the Helensburgh Cat, whose adventures went viral in 2019 after the launch of his own Facebook page documenting his adventures, is recuperating at home after going missing at the weekend – sparking a huge social media appeal for help in finding him.

George’s disappearance from his home in the town’s East King Street on Friday night – just a day after the funeral of his ‘hooman’, Dennis Royal – was reported via his Facebook page, George the Helensburgh Cat, on Saturday evening.

Dennis’s daughter Jackie Hood posted a frantic appeal on the page, asking local residents to keep an eye out and saying the family had been “up and down the streets, all over town” searching for him.

READ MORE: Obituary for Dennis Royal: yachtsman, author, and owner of the most famous cat in Helensburgh

And to sighs of relief from Jackie and her family, and from George’s many Facebook fans from as far afield as Dallas, Texas, he was found safe, weak but unhurt, on Sunday afternoon.

Posting on George’s Facebook page, Jackie said: “Thanks everyone for all your help looking for him and for all your good wishes. He was found lying on the road but hasn’t been hit by a car.

“He is now drinking and eating voraciously. He is very weak as he has been out since Friday night but wants to go back out already.”

Dennis died aged 91 at the town’s Argyll Care Home on June 29.

READ MORE: Check out all the latest news headlines from around Helensburgh and Lomond by clicking here