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It was getting late on a cold winter's night back in 2014. Snowy always came back for his tea on time, pretty much like clockwork. In fact, he barely left the grounds and was always nearby when called. This one night there was no response, nothing at all.

He came to us a couple of years earlier, just turned up on the doorstep pretty much covered in car oil and full of cuts - no microchip and not neutered. He soon became the boss of the place.

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This one particular night we felt something was wrong. The days that followed consisted of searching the streets, calling and sticking posters on every lamp post we passed, and knocking on doors. Even a psychic claimed he had been involved in a terrible accident by a road when we shown his picture. We eventually got solid word he had been involved in a road traffic accident and the council had taken him away. After phoning the council, they said they did not scan for microchips nor even keep so much of a brief record so couldn't confirm anything to me. After telling them the area he would have been found, how he was a very large pure white cat and very distinctive, they eventually said they believe he might have been collected but he had been sent straight to the local landfill site as they do not keep the bodies!

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We go to great lengths to make sure we're informed if our cats are out there and need our help or be notified if the worst happens but the system doesn't respect cat owners. They're not rubbish to be disposed of alongside the rest of the week's general waste, rotting on a landfill site, they are our pets - our family! We deserve to be informed and have them returned to us so we can give them the dignified send off they deserve - like any other family member we lose! We also need to know so we have that closure, that's so important!

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Taking Snowy and Henry from us broke our hearts, shattered our families, but without what happened to them maybe #CatsMatter would never be and they are the reason we are fighting the entire system and they are why we will get justice one day, not just for them, but for the hundreds of thousands of others across the UK who have also met this cruel ending!

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