A COUPLE are devastated after an animal shelter refused to give back their new pet kitten and have called for its policy to be reviewed.

Gillian Jeynes became ill and falsely believed she was allergic to Suzy, a cat her and husband Frank had just adopted, and so gave the pet to Worcestershire Animal Rescue Shelter.

However, her GP then confirmed she had a lung infection which was unrelated to the cat – but on attempting to reclaim Suzy, Gillian was told it was against the shelter’s policy.

Mr Jeynes said he offered the shelter £350 in compensation, but it refused as the couple had signed a Conditions of Acceptance making the shelter the cat’s legal owner.

“There seems to be no logical reason why they cannot have taken a more considerate approach,” said Mr Jeynes, 78.

“We were dumbstruck that we couldn’t have her back – I, in particular, had developed a strong bond with Suzy.”

The couple, from Great Comberton, near Pershore, had adopted two kittens in August – Suzy and her brother Oscar – from a shelter in Stratford.

However, after a couple of months Mrs Jeynes, 75, began to feel ill and believed her asthma was being triggered by the pets.

Mr Jeynes said they soon found a family who wanted to adopt Oscar but could not find a suitable candidate for Suzy, so she was given to the Malvern-based rescue shelter.

The couple had owned cats previously and Mrs Jeynes had never had any health issues before caused by keeping pets.

A week or so after signing over Suzy to the shelter last month, she visited her GP who confirmed the cat was not to blame for her infection.

Kaye Gibbard, shelter trustee, secretary and vice chair, said Mr and Mrs Jeynes were given the opportunity to take Suzy back less than 24 hours after handing her over but decided not to.

“We could not change our policy on ‘returning’ animals to an original owner after a period of time has elapsed, to do so would turn us into a boarding facility,” she said. “We are not about to change who we are and what we do.”

She said Mr and Mrs Jeynes were “fully aware” of the terms of the Conditions of Acceptance when they signed over ownership of Suzy.

In an email to the shelter, Mr Jeynes said he believed there is “room and a very good cause for reviewing policy on just this one occasion on humanitarian grounds”.

Suzy has now been adopted by a new family.