THE Lowe family, who live in York Ave Corringham, are dedicated supporters of St. Luke’s Hospice. So when buying a new sofa for their recently decorated lounge without a second thought they donated their unwanted sofa to St. Luke’s Hospice Shops – unbeknown to them they also donated their family cat “Crockett” who was hiding inside the sofa.
Crockett was not discovered until five days later when the sofa’s new owners heard noises coming from inside!
Head of Retail at St. Luke’s, David Emery said: “When we arrived to collect two sofas from Mr & Mrs Lowe’s house (on the Monday) in order to get one of them through the door it had to be taken apart and the wheels and bottom base removed. When returning to collect the sofa, the base and wheels had already been replaced.
“The sofa went through our normal routine checks and taken to our Grays, High Street Shop for sale. The sofa sold and was delivered to our customer on the Thursday – during the time the sofa was in our shop staff and volunteers had no hint of the fact that there was a cat inside’’
Relief shops Manager for St. Luke’s, Jenny Munro said: “I couldn’t believe what I was told when a customer phoned to say that they had bought a sofa from our shop, which had been delivered the previous day, and that they were delighted with the purchase except for the fact that, they had discovered a cat was inside!
“Apparently the new owners of the sofa heard a soft miaow sound, on further investigation of the sofa they saw two claws poking out of the material which moved away when touched. In order to release the cat they had to rip the material under the sofa as Crockett had lodged himself well into the back. After giving the cat some TLC, a good drink and food they contacted us’’
Jenny continued: “We looked back on our records and telephoned Mrs. Lowe, who had been looking for their lost cat since Monday.”
“Mrs Lowe was as surprised and delighted as we were. The customer who had bought the sofa have cats themselves and were very understanding. They kindly brought ‘Crockett’ back to our shop and he was soon re-united with his owner.
“Everyone is happy with the outcome and we have all been saying how amazing the chain of events was and what a very lucky cat Crockett was as had the sofa been disposed of in other ways Crockett may not have been found’’
Crockett is 10 years old and is one of two cats owned by the Lowe family.
Mrs Lowe said: “The whole family are delighted to have ‘Crockett’ back he is a lovely cat and we were devastated when he went missing – our other cat ‘Tubbs’ was missing him too.
“We can’t believe how he must have tucked himself into the inside of the sofa during the short time the bottom had been removed and remained silent for so long’’
Crockett is completely well and not in the least bit harmed by his experience.
The couple who found Crockett said ‘’We are so thrilled that he is safe and sound and was found in time & has been re-united with his brother ‘Tubbs’ & family.
