A woman in Syndey Australia was left devastated when she was informed via text that her vet had released her cat to the wrong owner and her beloved cat was now nowhere to be found.
Australian website 7 News reported on the shocking story, sharing that the cat’s owner Katie Matthews has been left reeling as she tries to figure out how this terrible mix-up could have happened.
A terrible text
On July 18th Matthews shared a Facebook post that included the shocking text that her veterinary clinic had sent her.
Someone who identifies themselves as Dr. Julia begins the text message with an apology, saying that she is so sorry to have to share the news she has with Matthews.
The vet goes on to explain how the terrible mix-up happened- an employee at the clinic confused Katie Matthews’s cat Tara with another tortoiseshell cat named Lara and released Tara to the grandmother of Lara’s owner. The text read:
“I’m sorry to have to message you this way. Last night one of our staff accidentally discharged Tara instead of a cat called Lara to a home in Bondi,”
Because the person collecting Lara was not familiar with the cat, she left the clinic with no idea that she was actually bringing home Matthew’s cat Tara.
It gets worse
Unfortunatly as the shocking text message continued, the news that it had to share got much, much worse.
The vet explains that inexplicably, once the woman who brought home Tara instead of Lara, conferred with a neighbor and realized the mistake she released Tara onto the street. The text read:
“She took Tara home and the neighbor came on and said that it wasn’t their cat and then of all stupid things, they let her out.”
Tara was now missing within an unfamiliar Bondi neighborhood many miles from her home and Katie Matthews was left both devastated and furious.
The search is on
Fully contrite Dr. Julia told Matthews that the search was currently on for Tara and that the clinic was doing everything in its power to get her back. She wrote:
“I’m so sorry to have to let you know this. We are doing everything we can to find her. We have her chip. We will put up posters everywhere and let the council and all vets know.”
This of course came as cold comfort to Matthews who had left her beloved cat in the care of the vet’s boarding kennel where Tara was to be safely looked after while Matthews was on holiday.
Matthews was not even in the country when she received the terrible text message, further compounding the devastation that she felt upon hearing that her cherished Tara was gone, she couldn’t even join in on the search.
How could this happen?
A spokesperson for Bondi Junction Veterinary Hospital, the clinic that Tara went missing from, released a statement in response to the many questions that have been asked about how this could happen, it said:
“The staff member made a terrible mistake with two cats with similar names and coloring. The staff member had been well-trained and there are no excuses.
We have put signs up, are searching, and have notified all the councils and other local vets. She is marked missing in the pet registry.”
Since receiving the distressing text, Katie Matthews has been sharing images of Tara across social media, appealing for help in locating her missing kitty.
Hopefully, this terrible mix-up will have a happy ending and Tara will be returned to her loving family.