Aussie cat Clyde in mystery Outback odyssey

An Australian cat named Clyde was on his way home to Tasmania on Tuesday after turning up at an Outback hospital thousands of kilometres (miles) away in the country's latest mystery pet odyssey.

Clyde, a long-haired Himalayan who had been missing for three years, appeared at Queensland's Cloncurry Hospital, 3,800 kilometres (2,360 miles) from the southern state of Tasmania, and was identified by his microchip.

The pedigree feline was a birthday present for Ashleigh Sullivan, now 19, before he disappeared from the family home in Hobart, capital of the southern island state.

"The (family) plastered southern Tasmania with photos looking for him when he did originally go missing to no joy, so they are just stoked (excited)," said Queensland veterinarian Donna Weber.

"(Sullivan) still can't believe it and I'm sure they're going to be really glad to get him home," she told ABC radio.

Weber said Clyde was skittish and had "obviously been living like a wild cat" but appeared to be well-fed and in good health. He was being flown back to Hobart to be reunited with his owner.

Sullivan's mother Kathleen Phillips said four-year-old Clyde must have stowed away with tourists driving across the country.

"The people (must) have got to their destination and realised they had a passenger but didn't know where he was from or how to return him," she said.

In July, white mongrel dog Muffy appeared in a Melbourne suburb, flea-bitten and filthy, an incredible nine years after going missing 2,000 kilometres away on Queensland's Gold Coast.