Edit: For the people saying the other cat was likely euthanized by the shelter, I just double-checked and the shelter I dropped it off at was and still is a no-kill shelter.
but on the real tho I had a friend that bought a kitten in like '09 but his family didn't approve of it.
then one day, the kitten disappeared, gone!
he thought someone gave it away and was pissed
6 months later, he found the dead kitten in the basement still in it's cage
I never went back to that house and I always get sick at his family