LONDON, ONT. -- "If they let me say goodbye, that's 100 per cent the prefect situation."
It’s what Katie Cronin, her husband and her three-year-old son are holding out hope for - to have a final goodbye with their cat Lily, who was last seen on Halloween.
“If we didn’t see her for a day or two we knew she’s probably just sleeping somewhere behind our shelf,” says Cronin.
Except this time Lily wasn’t hiding. As it turns out, she got out of the house. Once the family realized she was gone they started looking for their beloved cat, who they eventually found on the London Animal Care Centre's (LACC) adoption website.
“They opened at 1 p.m. the next day and I didn’t want to miss it so I set my alarm and called at 1:06 p.m. and she had already been adopted,” says Cronin.
The Animal Care Centre says this an unfortunate situation that happens more often than people think. When an animal comes into the shelter it’s held for 72 hours incase the owners come forward, after that the adoption process begins, which is what happened with Lily.
Staff at centre say if a pet goes missing the number one thing pet owners should do is call their local shelter right away. There are also preventative steps that can be taken to make finding your pet easier.
“Most people now are microchipping and that makes a world of difference for us because we scan every cat or dog that comes in so microchipping is a good option,” says Barb Ross, acting kennel manager at LACC.
Cronin says she’s not blaming LACC and she’s thankful Lily is safe and the shelter found her a loving home, but her family would like some closure.
She wrote a Facebook post, which got hundreds of shares, about Lily’s history, her likes and her quirks, in hopes her new owners would see it. Finally, she also included a plea to allow for one last goodbye.
“To be able to just see her one more time, to give her one more cuddle and one more hug and a goodbye and then let her start the new chapter of her life, that’s all I can really ask.”
Cronin says if Lily’s new owners are willing to do that, they can contacted her privately on Facebook.
