Pet cruelty charity rings owner to say they've found her cat that was missing for 18 years - and then they put it to sleep

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A cat which went missing for 18 years was put down by a pet cruelty charity before it could be reunited with its owner because the vet 'refused to wait 20 minutes' to put it down.

Laura Rennie, 39, could barely believe it when an animal welfare officer turned up at her door to tell her the cat she lost when she was 21-years-old had been found - just 15 minutes from her home in Glasgow.

However, her joy turned to despair when a vet told her that tabby cat Toby would have to be put down, after being injured.

Ms Rennie, who has worked with animals for 16 years, was distraught when the vet told her she couldn't wait 20 minutes for her to get to the rescue centre before putting the cat to sleep.

The animal handling business owner had adopted Toby when it was just four-weeks-old after it had been abandoned, but the kitten went missing nearly a year later.

After three months of putting up posters near her house in the east end of Glasgow, Ms Rennie gave up her search for the kitten.

She said: 'I've felt every emotion you can imagine in the space of 32 hours.

'I was 20-years-old when I rescued her. She was an outdoor cat and when she was one-year-old she just never came back.

'I felt complete shock and stunned the cat had been alive.

'Then we were trying to figure out how we could integrate her into the house as my mum has a cat. I got out the cat bed.

'But then I realised she was going to get put down and I was not going to get to see her.

'It turned out quite nasty.'

The Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) managed to contact Ms Rennie immediately after the cat was found thanks to the fact it had a microchip.

Ms Rennie said: 'Unfortunately she had been hit by a car. A chap had found her in his garden and phoned the SSPCA.'

Original post found here: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3126819/Pet-cruelty-charity-rings-owner-say-ve-cat-missing-18-years-sleep.html#ixzz3dG5MsMhq