'Where's my girl?' 20 years on, Burlington, Ont., woman learns cherished ashes aren't of her cat
CBC
Valerie Stevenson's cat was playing around when her pet knocked the urn containing the ashes of her beloved cat Jewels off her dresser, 20 years after her death.
The urn broke.
As the longtime Burlington, Ont., resident started to move the ashes to a new urn, she found a dog tag among them.
"I wanted to cry," Stevensoln said. "I was shaken, just shaken in disbelief thinking, 'Holy crap, now what? Where's my girl?'"
Jewels had not been on Valerie's dresser, as she had thought, for the last 20 years.
She took the bone-shaped tag and scrubbed it until the old letters were visible.
"Sparky," read the charred tag, along with a Maplewood Drive address and a phone number.
Since then, Stevenson, 66, has made it her mission to find Sparky's "rightful owners."
Valerie and her daughter, Rachel Stevenson, have posted on local Facebook groups and Reddit forums. They called the phone number on the tag, only to find it had switched owners. Valerie also went to the address on the tag but the current residents had only been living there a few years.
Valerie also went to the library and Burlington city hall, again with no luck.
Valerie hopes Sparky's owners might have Jewels's remains, but even if they don't, she would be happy Sparky went back to where he was meant to be.
"In the meantime, we are holding on to him," said Rachel.
Rachel and Valerie described Jewels as "warm," "sweet" and "beautiful."
"She would let us dress her up in doll clothes. She was like one of those cats that was just beyond tolerant," Rachel said.
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