WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- A West Hartford woman claims that her 7-month-old cat was dead less than 24 hours after it went missing -- and she's blaming a local veterinary hospital.

Stephanie Nielsen said she's had cats her whole life, but it wasn't until Lono, one of her four cats, went missing this summer that she found out a startling reality.

"They made a decision to kill my cat after keeping him for only two hours, and he was a healthy 7-month-old pet," she said.

Nielsen said the problem began when Lono was outside with Nielsen's other cats. She said that when outside, Lono normally stayed near the house, but on that day, he disappeared.

"I went looking up and down the street, and I looked that evening and a friend of mine came over, and we both looked for him, and we couldn't find him," Nielsen said.

With no luck, Nielsen said she woke early the next morning and posted fliers in her neighborhood.

"At 6 that night, my neighbor called me and said she had my cat the night before," she said.

Nielsen said she rushed to the neighbor's house with a photo and the neighbor identified the found cat as Lono. Nielsen said she then went to West Hartford's Connecticut Veterinary Center on Oakwood Avenue, where her neighbor said she had brought the cat. She said that by the time she arrived at the center, it was too late.

"They told me, 'Oh no, we kept him two hours, and nobody was going to pay the bill, so we euthanized him," Nielsen said.

Nielsen said she couldn't bear to see the body of her pet, so she asked her friend, Robert Zinkerman, to see the body to confirm it was Lono.

"I only saw a couple small scratches on him -- one on his leg, one on his back, that was it," Zinkerman said.

He said that he didn't see anything that he believes necessitated euthanizing the animal.

The Channel 3 I-Team brought Nielsen's complaints to the Connecticut Veterinary Hospital, which expressed a different version of events. Hospital officials said the cat was in such bad shape, they thought it was a stray.

Tatiana Sanchez was the manager on duty that night. In a statement to the I-Team, she said after the cat was dropped off by the neighbor, it was examined by a vet and found to be injured and flea-ridden. She said there was no collar and no identifying microchip was found. Read the full statement

Sanchez said the neighbor who dropped off the cat declined to take financial responsibility for the cat's treatment. Sanchez said she called animal control in both West Hartford and Hartford, and both offices declined to take custody of the animal. She said it was at that point that the decision was made to euthanize Lono.

Sanchez disputed that the decision was made within two hours of the cat being dropped off, saying that it was probably six hours or more, but that the hospital has no firm policy on how long to hold suspected strays.

"This is the unfortunate reality of the animal health care business," Sanchez wrote. "We cannot provide medical care to sick animals without the financial commitment of an owner."

West Hartford Animal Control told the I-Team that it will always take animals from residents who contact them, but generally they do not accept animals from veterinarians.

Nielsen denied that Lono had fleas and said her friend who saw the scratches after he was put down called them minor. She claims the hospital should not have thought he was a stray.

"He had been to the vet the week before to be checked and I wish they would have given both of us a chance for his life and their bill would have been paid," Nielsen said.

Karen Jones, the West Hartford Animal Control supervisor, said she wasn't involved in Nielsen's case, but that identifying cats is a common problem in her line of work.

"The ultimate responsibility of pet safety lies with the owner," she said.

She said that besides having pets vaccinated and spayed and neutered, she strongly recommends that cats always be kept indoors. She said if owners do let cats outside, it's essential that they are identifiable, either with a collar or a embedded microchip that allows vets and animal control officers to reunite pets and owners, and distinguish pets from strays, which may have been a lifesaver for Lono.

"There's not an easy way to distinguish between a feral, stray or pet cat," Jones said. "There's no way unless there is identification."

Nielsen said that she tried having her cats wear collars, and that it didn't work.

"They come home without them on, and I put them on snug. The microchip -- there's controversy over whether they cause cancer with that, so I'm afraid to do that," she said.

Nielsen said that regardless of if Lono was wearing a collar, she was at the animal hospital in less than 24 hours, which she believes should have been plenty of time to save Lono's life.

"I would have been really happy to pay whatever it cost, if I could have found him," she said.

Animal Control told the I-Team that since they generally hold animals for days or weeks, the best way to ensure owners will have time to find missing pets is to call them first.

Staff at the animal hospital told the I-Team that they're saddened by Lono's death.

For more information about keeping your pet safe, visit our Lost & Pound section.