IT TOOK LOTS of staff, countless facebook postings and even a pet detective to find him – so when Jack the Cat was returned to his owner after two months missing in JFK Airport, it was a moment of celebration.

The missing pet had gone astray after his owner, Karen Pascoe, brought him and his brother Barry with her to take an American Airlines flight to California.

After her pet went missing, Pascoe started a Facebook group, manned by her friend Mary Beth Melchior, to keep the search for Jack in people’s minds.

More than 24,000 people ‘liked’ the page to keep up with how the search was progressing.

But yesterday, Melchior had to bring the sad news that Jack had been put to sleep after suffering from a litany of medical complaints.

Despite antibiotics, the infections were worsening, and his skin was continuing to deteriorate.  He needed surgery to treat the wounds, but there was not enough available skin to close the wounds after the surgery.  The vet compared his skin condition to having severe burns over 50-60% of his body.  The vet was very clear that she had conferred with every possible doctor regarding options for Jack, but none of them left him with a substantial chance of survival and all of them involved him suffering.

After hearing this, Pascoe had to make a very difficult decision, and agree that her beloved cat should be put down.

Said Melchior:

Jack had been through so much, and the last thing anyone wanted was for him to suffer more.

Tributes poured in to the Facebook page, with one commenter saying:

This should have never happened in the first place. Jack did not die in vain, though. He has united cat lovers all over the world and has helped numerous other abandoned cats find loving homes.

Read: Missing airport cat found and homeward bound>