Katelyn’s family were heartbroken when their pet cat Spy died. Now their vet’s awful blunder has compounded their misery

An Aussie family grieving the loss of their beloved pet suffered another devastating blow when they were given the ashes of a stray cat in a bizarre vet blunder.

Katelyn Tanner-Smith and her family were devastated when their beloved cat Spy died a few weeks ago.

Spy was more than just a pet to the Adelaide family.

The little cat was a loving companion who left a gaping hole in his owners’ lives when he died.

“Emotionally it affected us a bit,” Ms Tanner-Smith told Seven News.

The family paid to have Spy’s ashes cremated and placed in an urn.

For weeks, the family believed Spy’s ashes were in a cat-shaped urn that took pride of place in their home.

That was until they received a shocking call from the vet.

The ashes in the urn were actually from a deceased stray dog, which had been accidentally cremated.

“My cat was actually left in the freezer,” said a shocked Mrs Tanner-Smith.

“It broke me, like he was our family.”

The family returned the urn to the vet and it was replaced with what was said to be their cat’s ashes.

Ms Tanner-Smith still doesn’t feel like she has the closure she thought she paid for.

“I don’t even know if it’s really my cat, they put the ashes in there once… it just baffles me,” she said.

Katelyn Tanner-Smith and her family were distraught when they learned their urn contained the ashes of another cat

The Adelaide vet has since apologized for the blunder.

‘We are only human. “We have acknowledged our mistake and have done everything we can to rectify the situation as quickly as possible,” they said.