MASSACHUSETTS —A Framingham family is claiming the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did not do enough to reunite them with their lost cat and instead euthanized the pet.
Laura Grome stated that her family put up “lost” posters in their neighborhood last week after their 14-year-old cat, Wishbone, did not come home Wednesday evening.
“I definitely knew something was up,” Grome said to WCVB.
She went on to explain that she later learned that a neighbor had found Wishbone, thought he was a stray and taken him to MSPCA’s Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston.
Grome and her husband Allen stated the MSPCA should have used the address left by the neighbor to track them down.
Instead, just 48 hours after he went missing, shelter workers decided to euthanize Wishbone because of complications from diabetes.
“This cat had a wonderful home, and they robbed of us that. They robbed that of my family,” Laura Grome stated.
Allen Grome said that it would have been very easy to reunite the family with the cat.
“Phone call. Couple phone calls just to do your due diligence,” he claims.
Rob Halpin, who is MSPCA’s director of relations, said shelter workers often reach to local adopters and animal control agencies when they find a stray animal.
He went on to say that they also post the animal’s picture on social media.
Halpin explained that in this case, veterinarians were focused on treating Wishbone’s deteriorating condition.
He said finding the cat’s owners may have been easier if he had a collar or an implanted microchip.
“That would have made all the difference. 90 percent of the time an animal will come to us, and if they’re microchipped, we’re able to very quickly reunite that animal with their owner,” Halpin said to WCVB.
The Grome’s stated they had tried to fit Wishbone with a collar, but he refused to wear it because of an irritating skin condition.
They admitted that they had not considered a microchip.
Halpin said such implants typically cost $50 of even less.
