Cat ‘put down by the RSPCA’ comes back from the dead

A WOMAN paid for her cat to be put down... only for it to turn up on her doorstep a month later.

Lisa Rogers’s pet had been reported missing in September and she had been put on a list circulated to animal charities.

Eventually the RSPCA rang her to say Dusty had been found, but was seriously ill and needed to be put to sleep.

The finance assistant paid £252, and was just getting over her grief when the charity rang back to say it had instead put down a different grey cat belonging to an elderly woman who had just died.

The RSPCA apologised, refunded her and blamed a ‘miscommunication about the microchip details’ at its Rosemary Lodge centre in Bath.

Miss Rogers, 42, from Bath, said: ‘I was distraught when I was told Dusty had to be put down – I love that cat.’

Dusty had gone missing while being looked after by a relative while Miss Rogers was on holiday in Portugal.

She said last night: ‘A month later, I came home from work and there was Dusty on my front doorstep.

‘I knew it was her because she had a distinctive lump under her belly from where she had surgery when she was little. Then we had the microchip checked and, sure enough, it was my cat. I was delighted.’

A spokesman for the RSPCA said: ‘We are very pleased to hear that Dusty has been reunited with the owner and have apologised for the distress caused.’