PetSmart Gave Their Cat To The Wrong People, Then She Went Missing

EVANSTON, IL — After returning home from their family vacation, the Gordons picked up their 5-year-old cat Delilah from lodging at the PetSmart in Mount Prospect last week — or they thought they did.

Upon returning home, they realized this wasn't the cat they raised since she was a kitten. This was an entirely different cat named Molly, who is 15 years old and belongs to an elderly Evanston couple. When they realized this wasn't their cat, Susan Gordon and her husband hopped back in the car and got on the phone with PetSmart.

On the phone, they were placed on hold, and at the store, staff went to the back area after learning about the issue to check paperwork and didn't come out for a while, Susan said. While waiting, Susan called the police because she started to get a feeling that something was wrong.

"The store had wanted to share with us themselves what had happened, and so we were waiting a very long time," Susan said. "The cop was asking us questions like, 'Is she chipped?' And we're like, 'Is our cat dead?'"

Eventually, the store shared that they mixed up Delilah and Molly, and sent the Gordons' cat home with the wrong people. Thankfully, the Gordons were able to get in contact with the other family and went to do the switch at their home near the Skokie and Evanston border.

Only when they got there, Delilah wasn't there.

The couple allowed the Gordons to come in and call for Delilah, but she didn't come out. The couple suggested that maybe she quickly darted out the door when they opened the carrier when they got home, but that was about two days ago, and Delilah could be anywhere at that point.

With the couple off on their own out-of-state vacation this week, the search for Delilah was on.

"That night when we found out they looked in the area, then we came home. We went out the next morning really early. And we went out the next afternoon again. My parents are out right now," Emily Gordon, Susan's daughter, said. "We gave out 200 flyers with her face on it, we put it on every light post."

The Gordons got in touch with the local community and neighbors, the police and animal shelters have all banded together to search for Delilah. Volunteers with the animal shelter lent their trail cameras to set up near the area to see if they could spot Delilah.

"It's just so cold, and she's so in such an unfamiliar place, and she could be anywhere," Susan said.

Wednesday afternoon, while the couple was away, they gave the Gordons permission to go inside their home again to do a more thorough search. Thankfully, Susan was successful and Delilah is on her way home to celebrate New Year’s Eve with her family.

Throughout all of this, the Gordons said PetSmart has been apologetic, even offering a $500 reward for anyone who was able to find Delilah.

The family has lodged her at the Mount Pleasant location in the past, most recently over Thanksgiving, with no issue before.

But now, Emily said she doesn’t think she or any others should lodge their pets there after her family’s experience.

“They know that they messed up, and they have apologized. It's just that saying sorry [didn’t] bring Delilah,” Emily said.