A cat owner has slammed a cattery after his beloved tabby Bruce was given to the wrong family and he ran away.
Tadeu Vaccari, 39, gave Bruce to Christchurch Cattery to look after while he was on holiday with his wife.
He said Bruce was kept in a pen next to a near-identical tabby called Oscar.
And in a case of mistaken identity, two-year-old Bruce was handed over to Oscar’s owners when they came to pick him up.
By the time the other family realised the mistake they had already let Bruce out of the house and, being in unusual surroundings, he ran away.
He hasn’t been seen since and Tadeu, a software developer, is now desperately searching for him.
He said: ‘A lot of people said I should leave Bruce with friends but I thought the cattery would be a safe bet.
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‘We got a message half way through our holiday telling us that they had accidentally given him to the wrong family and he had escaped from their garden.
‘He is not an outside cat normally and we’re very worried about him.’
Tadeu criticised the cattery for the error, adding: ‘I can’t believe the cattery gave back the wrong cat.
‘Tabby cats are very common. You would have thought they would be used to having them and taking care not to confuse them.
‘We our heartbroken and just want him home.’
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The property Bruce disappeared from in Southbourne, Bournemouth, Dorset, is about two miles from his home in Boscombe.
Bruce is microchipped but does not wear a collar, and Tadeu has spent hours looking for him and putting up missing posters.
The owners of Christchurch Cattery said they were ‘devastated’ by the blunder and added Bruce and Oscar ‘were similar in looks and were in pens next to each other’.
A spokesperson said Oscar’s owners turned up to collect him when the manager was away and the cattery was attended by a junior member of staff.
Dawn Pennock, from the cattery, told the BBC: ‘It’s a very unfortunate case of mistaken identity, to the point where even the customer who collected Bruce didn’t notice any differences in markings, behaviour or personality from their own cat, Oscar.
‘The moment we learned of the mix-up I, along with friends and family, did all we could to locate Bruce and returned Oscar to his owner.’
The cattery has agreed to waive the £210 fee for Bruce’s stay.
