On Monday, November 25th, Violet the Siamese cat was found in Illinois. The cat’s rescuers quickly realized the stray cat had been taken in before as she had a “very sweet” nature.
But that wasn’t all the rescuers found.
A note tied around Violet’s pink collar was also found when she arrived at the Effingham County Animal Shelter that appeared to be written by a child, addressing the cat’s new owners.
The note read:
“Bye Violet. I think that name chose you. I wish I could keep you. Bye Violet, I hope you get a good owner. To owner: Please take good care of her. By the way, I named her. Thank you! Love, Lacey.”
The letter broke many hearts, with an animal control officer, Vanessa Skavlem sharing with The Dodo:
“When we pulled it off and read it it just tugs at your heartstrings. I just envision some child loving this thing, and knowing that they can’t keep it.”
And when the shelter scanned the animal for a microchip, it came back negative. So instead, they posted a photo of Violet along with the note on social media — hoping it would lead her to her next forever home.
Cindy Murray then saw the post and her eyes quickly filled with tears. She could tell the little girl loved Violet but was not able to take care of her anymore.
Cindy then explained what happened next:
“I screenshotted the post and sent it to my husband at work, and said, ‘I want to go get this cat. I love it — talk me out of it.’ And he said, ‘You know I can’t do that. If you want it, go get it.’”
After visiting the cat in the shelter, Cindy realized she was nervous and decided to bring her home that very same day. But once Violet was in a loving environment, she began to relax and has been purring constantly.
Cindy now hopes to reach out to the little girl who cared so deeply about Violet that she wrote a note for her new owner — and is even considering posting a video online in the hope that it reaches her.
Her message is as follows:
“Dear Lacey, I adopted your beautiful Violet. She’s going to have a wonderful life — full of treats, snuggles and everything we can give her.”
Aaaand cue the tears!