15 years ago Suzy from Heverlee, near Leuven (Flemish Brabant) lost her cat Poekie. Imagine her surprise when she received a telephone call from Cattitude, a not-for-profit organisation that helps stray cats in the Leuven area. The person from Cattitude asked Suzy to come as quickly as possible because her cat could die at any moment. Suzy got there in time and Poekie died in her arms (photo above).
Poekie had been found on the drive of a house in Oud-Heverlee. The police collected the injured cat and a volunteer from Cattitude raced to the police station to collect the unfortunate animal and take it to a vet. Poekie was in a very bad way. She had been hit by a car and also had a tumour. Her advanced years didn’t aid her chance of survival either. She was 19, which is quite old for a cat.
The vet found that Poekie had a microchip with the address of her owner. Cattitude contacted Suzy, who hadn’t seen Poekie for 15 years. Suzy told VRT News that "I couldn’t answer at first. I could think any more. But then I jumped into my car”.
The Cattitude volunteer waited for Suzy hoping that she would make it in time to say a final goodbye to Poekie. Suzy made it and she was able to hold Poekie, the cat that she hadn’t seen since 2009, in her arms again for one last time.
"I was able to hold her and she died in my arms. I think and I hope that she recognised me”.
During the past 15 years Suzy did her best to find Poekie. "I distributed hundreds of flyers with my telephone number and address”. She distributed her fliers within a 2km radius of her home. It now seems that she should have gone a little further afield as Poekie was found 3 kilometers away from Suzy’s home.
"Tragedy could have been prevented"
Cattitude says that this tragedy could have been avoided. "Poekie was chipped, but in all the 15 years no one took the trouble to take her to the vet”.
The organisation is all keen to stress that before you start feeding a stray cat, you should check if it is chipped and doesn't have an owner fretting at home wondering where it has gone.