The story of Ginger the missing cat took a strange twist yesterday when it turned out that Ginger was playing both sides of the fence.

VOCM reported yesterday that the cat, missing from her Portugal Cove-St. Phillip’s home for over a year and a half, had returned home safe and sound.

But after the story went viral, Ginger’s family received a startling phone call; it turned out Ginger was actually Chico, and HE belonged to another nearby home.

Sarah Mitchell says her first thought was being mortified that they had stolen someone’s cat.

She says there’s a large population of feral cats near her father’s home, with a trap-neuter-release plan in place, so they were used to seeing and caring for strays. They had reported the cat when they first found him, but as no one came forward, they continued to care for it.

Chico, it turned out, enjoyed being Ginger and while first roaming back and forth between the two homes, had been hanging around their house a lot more. His owner had made him an indoor cat a year and a half ago, only to have him escape this week.

Mitchell says Chico’s days of double-dinners are over, and he is now living back with his original family but says she may still have shared visitation rights.