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An overjoyed Gold Coast family is to be reunited with their pet dog Muffy, discovered riddled with fleas in a squalid Melbourne backyard nine years after going missing.
The RSPCA discovered the little bitzer sleeping on a scrap of cardboard in a filthy backyard after a tip-off.
To their surprise, they found Muffy was microchipped, and tracked down owner Natalie Lampard at Burleigh Waters on the Gold Coast.
Lampard said as soon as she was given a description of the dog, she knew it was their long lost pet.
"When the RSPCA described her I told them her name; I knew immediately it was our Muffy," she said.
"It was totally out of the blue, after nine years I thought she was long gone."
Lampard, who was confined to her home with swine flu on Thursday, said she's hoping to be well enough to organise a welcome home party when Muffy is flown back to the Gold Coast next week.
"She was pretty neglected and riddled with fleas which gave her a skin allergy and she's a special needs dog now, she has to be looked after but I think she deserves to be.
"We're just so excited to get her back, but we haven't decided yet what we'll give her for her first welcome-home meal."
Adam Rushby said his mum bought Muffy as an eighth birthday present for his now 17-year-old sister Chloe.
The dog used to sleep on the foot of her bed every night.
"We can't believe she's been found, so far away and no one knows how she got to Melbourne, it's all a big mystery," the 14-year-old said.
Lampard said Chloe was "over the moon" that Muffy had been found.
"They were pretty much inseparable," she said.
"After the RSPCA called I rang my daughter and asked her if she was sitting down, then told her they'd found Muffy.
"She's over the moon and there'll be a few tears shed when they see each other again.
"But just how she got down to Melbourne I guess is a mystery that will never be answered, but she won't be sleeping out in the yard in the middle of winter ever again."
