Vets put the cat to sleep thinking he was a
stray. But its loving owners had been phoning all week
to see if their pet moggie had been handed in.
Distraught Maggie and Roger Curtis searched high and
low when their little cat Corky went missing.
They asked neighbours to check sheds and outbuildings
and asked children playing in the field close to their
home in Tippetts Road, Kingswood, if they had spotted
the tabby. But when they could not find him they rang
the RSPCA centre in Albert Road, St Philip’s.
They gave a full description of the 14-year-old cat
to staff at the centre, who assured the family that if
he turned up he would be returned to them.
When he still did not return home, they phoned again
and again. The next time they phoned staff at the centre
said the cat had been with them all week. The family
jumped for joy – then almost burst into tears when staff
told them he had been put to sleep just hours earlier.
Corky had been bought to the centre by the parents of
some youngsters who had found him and thought he was
ill.
The Curtis’ daughter Amy said: “We were all
devastated. The RSPCA are supposed to look after
animals.
“They said the mix-up was my dad’s fault because he
hadn’t told them the exact day Corky had gone missing.
They sent us a snotty letter.
“We all loved Corky. He was one of the family. All
the children around here knew him. He was an old but
very friendly cat, he used to walk up to the park and
the children would all smooth him.”
Days later Amy, who already donates £5 a month to the
RSPCA, received a letter from them asking for another
donation.
She said: “We are all animal lovers. But they’ve
really made me angry.”
RSPCA spokeswoman Janet Kipling said: “Corky was
bought in on March 22, but Mr Curtis said he had not
gone missing until March 23.
“When we checked our records we only went back as far
as the date he had given us.”
She said: “We are extremely sympathetic for the
distress they have gone through, however it does
highlight the need to put identification on your cat.”