A stray cat has tracked down its owners after making a 2,000-km (1,200-mile) journey from Portugal to the Netherlands under a car hood, the Dutch ANP news agency said on Friday.

Jaap and Ine Hulleman, a couple from the Netherlands, had been staying in Tavira, a city on Portugal's southern coast, where they got attached to a tabby-colored cat. They named it Tijger (Tiger).

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However, when the Hullemans began to pack their things for their journey home, Tijger suddenly went missing. The couple left Tavira without seeing the animal again.

Some time later, when they were filling up their car with petrol in the Dutch city of Breda, they heard the cat mewing from underneath the hood of their car.

When Jaap and Ine opened the hood, they saw Tijger sitting near the car's engine.

"He has chosen us, and we are very pleased," - Ine said.