A heartbreaking ending came hours after an emotional reunion between a long-lost dog and his overjoyed owners.
Maltese cross Lolly was 16 when she escaped from her Elizabeth Grove home in Adelaide after a door was accidentally left open in December 2022.
Owners Heather Coombes and Guy Frantzen searched for their beloved family member for months amid grave fears for his health as he showed signs of dementia. 7 News reported.
The couple had given up hope of ever seeing their fur baby alive again, until last week, when a vet called to tell them that Lolly, now almost 18, had been found after being identified by her microchip.
Lolly was found looking frail and worn out on an outback road north of Port Augusta, more than 300 kilometres from her home.
How he arrived and survived nearly two years so far from home remains a mystery.
On Wednesday, Lolly was showered with kisses as she was reunited with her owners and her younger canine sister, Angel, something the couple never imagined would happen.
“I’m very emotional, very sad about how she looks, she’s very, very thin, very fragile, but she’s back home in time to celebrate her 18th birthday,” Coombes said, fighting back tears.
Owners Heather Coombes and Guy Frantzen had an emotional reunion with their “fur baby” Lolly on Wednesday before tragedy struck a day later.
‘I’m about to cry again because I’m so emotional.
“She’s our baby.”
Mrs Coombes believed Lolly knew she was home because her tail was wagging.
“She usually makes a funny little noise, like a cat purring, and she did that while I was holding her,” he said.
She has owned Lolly since she was a puppy and says the white dog was part of the family.
“She gets Christmas presents, Christmas cards, she’s spoiled rotten. She’s everything to us,” Coombes said.
Ms Coombes wants to ‘shout out’ to the person who may have kidnapped Lolly, but is ‘so grateful’ to whoever found her.
The Maltese dog (pictured before she went missing) was 16 when she escaped from the house after a door was accidentally left open. The nearly 18-year-old dog sadly died just one day after being reunited with her family.
But in a heartbreaking twist, Lolly took a turn for the worse and died surrounded by her family on Thursday, just a day after returning home.
Ms Coombes believes Lolly decided to hang on to be with her loved ones before she passed away and is grateful to have one more day with her precious pet.
Ms Coombes also hoped her story would serve as a reminder to owners to microchip their furry friends so that they can be reunited with them if their pet goes missing.