A CAT owner has been left heartbroken after discovering a cat shelter had her beloved pet put to sleep – without the family’s knowledge or permission.
Jayne Fisk had received a worried text from her husband on Saturday alerting her to the fact that the family’s cat Splat had not returned home after being let out for a half hour stroll.
The 58-year-old claims she then rushed home to discover a Facebook post from a concerned local, highlighting that 20-year-old Splat – mistaken for a stray – had been collected by Lincoln Cat Care.
Jayne from Lincoln, East Midlands was then devastated to learn that the charity had taken Splat – who allegedly had a collar and microchip – to a vet who put her to sleep, just hours after being let outside.
Mum Jayne explained that Splat was let out for a half hour walk every day, and suffered from arthritis and other illnesses typically seen in older cats.
However, this time one local appeared to have mistaken the black and white cat for a struggling stray – revealing on their Facebook post that she had been found in Hartsholme Park, struggling to walk.
Lincoln Cat Care were then called amid concerns Splat required emergency care, and rushed her to the vet where she was subsequently euthanised without Jayne or her family’s knowledge or permission.
Tragically, the family do not even have Splat’s remains – as they claim the charity is refusing to inform them of the whereabouts of her ashes.
The animal rescue charity has since claimed that they attempted to inform Splat’s family and that no trace of a microchip was detected.
However, the grief stricken family allege that they were never contacted by the charity regarding Splat’s whereabouts in the hours leading up to her death.
They added that Splat had likely been in deep distress in her last few hours, being forcefully pushed into a crate by strangers and offsetting the painful arthritis in her legs.
They have also stated that Splat had previously had no urgent health issues and was being diligently watched and cared for by her family.
The family are now in a desperate plea to know where Splat’s remains are so they provide her with a final resting place.
Jayne’s daughter Justine-Holly wrote in a social media post on Sunday: “We have started a group to raise awareness and ensure this never happens to anybody else’s pet.
“Please feel free to join if you wish to support or have any of your own stories about Lincoln Cat Care Charity Splat’s Legacy.
“This is Splat. Splat was 20-years-old and had a couple of health issues.
“Despite this, she was a happy cat who enjoyed sitting in the sunshine and curling up on the sofa or a lap.
“Yesterday she opted to go for a walk in the sun, as she sometimes does despite being unsteady on her feet.
“Yesterday night, my family found out that Splat was taken from the park she has lived in all her life by ‘Lincoln Cat Care charity’ and taken to the vet.
“Their reasoning for taking her was she was found looking ‘thin and looked poorly’.
“She had her collar on as she usually does but [they] decided to immediately take her away rather than ask around for more details first.
“Unfortunately, Splat got put down by the vet. No attempt was made by the charity to find or wait for an owner to come forward before this happened.
“This all happened in four hours. Before we even knew something was wrong she had been put to sleep.
“This isn’t the first time this charity has taken one of our cats because they’re out in the middle of the park. Two years ago Stripes was taken (we managed to get her back).
“However, it is the first time we’re having to deal with the death of a pet because of them. They’re now ignoring our attempts to contact them about Splat’s whereabouts.
“They’ve done nothing but cause trouble and distress for our pets in the past few years. We’ve heard stories of other people having problems with them too.
“I’m unsure what steps to take in this situation but I want to make sure they never do this to anyone else’s pet.
“RIP Splat. I hope kitty heaven has plenty of shoes to shove your face into and medical books for you to pretend to read.”
The tear-jerking post has since received over 300 likes and more than 450 comments from users left in shock at the family’s claims.
Following the family’s statement, Lincoln Cat Care responded in a post to their website yesterday: “A statement regarding recent events.
“Many will be aware of the recent sad occurrence, when a small aged cat was put to sleep in the absence of her owner.
“I’m sure all members of Lincoln Cat Care sympathise with her owners whose loss is under particularly sad circumstances.
“Unfortunately, the media has distorted some of the facts of this case from the perspective of our charity.
“LCC [Lancashire County Council] Helpline received two separate calls from concerned members of the public, both reporting a sick cat in Hartsholme Park on the afternoon of Saturday 25th.
“A local volunteer called with an Identichip reader and found the cat to be unchipped and in a state justifying urgent veterinary attention.
“She was taken to the [Out of Hours] surgery at North Hykeham where, due to a busy surgery, our volunteer was asked to leave her hospitalised – to be examined in due course.
“No details of assessment or likely treatment were discussed. No microchip was detected at the surgery using their scanner.
“The offer of an LCC treatment voucher was not accepted on this occasion. The cat was logged onto the LCC ‘lost and found’ page at 12:40.
“With no updates having been received by the evening, a volunteer phoned [the surgery] to be told that she had been put to sleep for welfare reasons.
“Since its inception, Lincoln Cat Care has always prompted use of microchipping – microchips have been used since the late eighties and have proved invaluable as a reliable homing aid.
“This was a case in point. To summarise, Lincoln Cat were [sic] presented with a difficult case – no establishment of identity was possible and a case too sick to ethically leave.
“The aims of the Charity as outlined on the Declaration of Trust have been followed. Again, our sympathy to the owners.”
Speaking to Jayne today she said: “Splat was almost 20. She lived in the park since being a kitten – her only home.
“She was a really feisty cat in her day up until the end – she always looked a bit battered. She was a proper hunter and had scars on her nose.
“In the last couple of years, she slowed down a bit and had arthritis in the back of her legs.
“She could still run, jump and sit in the bath. We loved that cat to bits, gave her everything she needed – if we’d have thought she needed to be put out of her misery we would have done it a long time ago.
“She still had a good quality of life and a strict routine of going out and sitting nice. She would only be out for half an hour and patter away back in.
“On Saturday, after getting really upset that there was no food left and telling everyone off she demanded to go out. So, we opened the door for her, watched her go off and sat back.
“I got a message later saying ‘Not sure if we should worry. Splat’s gone out and not come home.’
“We knew she hadn’t got long left and I thought ‘Oh dear.’ You do wonder if she had curled up and died but that would have been so much better [than being put to sleep].
“My youngest daughter went on Facebook that evening and she sat in the chair, opened her computer and said to herself ‘Oh no.’ She said ‘Splat’s in a lost and found page.’
“I looked at it and saw the pics and my immediate thought was ‘That’s our cat’ and then I just scrolled back and saw the cat hair and thought please tell me you haven’t put our cat to sleep
“Justine-Holly (JJ) found it too and we became well aware that something horrible had happened to Splat.
“I can’t even explain how I felt. JJ is quite clever but this woman told her you need to contact the vets.
“We were sort of all left in a complete muddle. None of us knew what to do – I still feel like I let her down.
“The original post was something along the lines of ‘Does anyone know this cat? seen in Hartsholme Park today – she’s in no distress.’
“She’s very obviously in these pictures got a new collar, and they’re telling me she wasn’t microchipped. They say they scanned her and the vet scanned her but I’m waiting for the information to be sent to me.
“She did have a microchip and was spayed 19 years ago. They asked me then if I wanted a chip and I had said what the hell, just do it.
“So, she was chipped but she was an almost 20-year-old cat, she’s skin and bone.
“She had a good appetite – ate and drank well – but she looked her age and at the end of the day they’re now pushing the blame.”
Jayne went on to claim: “My problem with this is I’d seen part of it, this 20-year old-cat had suffered a horrific couple of hours – grabbed by a stranger, shoved into a crate (she had arthritis).
“She had a gunky eye too. I just can’t get my head around the fact that – as my daughter said – a chip can fail and migrate, but a cat can’t take itself to a pet shop and buy itself a new collar.
“So the fact she had a new collar on, in our opinion, proved that no effort was made to contact us in any way – only the post on Facebook which was put up by a member of the public.
“I was also sent a screenshot from a lady who was concerned – she had had issues with them before.
“She had seen a post go up earlier by the charity, saying something about no more paying for this kitty, that post was taken down before any of us had time to see it.
“In my opinion, she may have been old and frail – and had she been a stray with no home I would not have put her out on the street but the fact she was wearing a collar shows she had a loving home and someone had been looking for her.
“Some attempt should have been made to find us. Social media can find you very quickly – especially with animals. We are putting together a timeline. waiting to hear more bits from the vets.
“My cat didn’t even get five hours, she had the most awful time, they said she couldn’t stand but she had arthritis and she had just been handled in a crate.
“I’m not against the charity or the vets. I’ve not dissed the woman who put up the post originally. I can’t help but feel sorry for her – she wanted to do some good.
“I will fight, though. People need to be sensible – just the public in general. The very next day a post was online with a cat – it had a collar.
“If that [other] person had waited for 15 minutes they would have seen Splat get up and go home. It’s a series of unfortunate events.
“The charity had said in their statement that she was in a bad way but we didn’t abuse her – we knew about the arthritis.
“The cat charity put on the post they deleted that she had a longstanding history of illness – no, she had not. She was more than a cat, she was a member of the family.”
Lincoln Cat Care Charity has since refused to comment.
