Jack the cat is euthanized

He was euthanized after veterinarians and his owner, who had returned to New York to be with her pet, agreed he was too sick to recover.

By

Reuters

Mon, Nov 07 2011 at 3:05 PM

Related Topics:

Pets, Air Travel

JACK: The cat had been due to fly with his owner to California on Aug. 25 but somehow got out of his carrier. Two months later, he fell through a loose ceiling tile into the airport's customs office. (Photo: Facebook)

NEW YORK - A pet cat named Jack who spent two hungry months lost inside New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after escaping from a baggage center has had to be euthanized, American Airlines said on Monday.

Jack had been due to fly with his owner, Karen Pascoe, from New York to California on American Airlines on Aug. 25 but somehow got out of his carrier after he had been checked in.

Two months later, he plummeted through a loose ceiling tile into the airport's customs office, and was taken to a veterinarian to be treated for problems resulting from malnutrition.

He was euthanized on Nov. 6 after veterinarians and Pascoe, who had returned to New York to be with her pet, agreed he was too sick to recover.

"We are deeply saddened that Jack the cat has passed away," American Airlines said in a statement. "From all of us at American, our sincere apologies to Karen and Jack's family and friends."

Nearly 25,000 people now subscribe to a Facebook page tracking Jack's fate after he went missing. The owner of the page posted a message on Sunday saying Jack had several wounds on his back that were failing to heal and getting increasingly infected as a result of the malnutrition he had suffered.

"Jack had been through so much, and the last thing anyone wanted was for him to suffer more," the message said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Cynthia Johnston)