8-year-old Rayden Sazam’s cat, Toothless was euthanized after a series of unfortunate events.

The day after Toothless disappeared from the family home, Rayden and his brother went to search for their pet around their neighborhood. When they came back empty-handed, Raydan’s dad Jason Sazam started calling shelters in the area.

Luckily, one of the shelters claimed to have Toothless. The catch? Due to paperwork, the family would have to wait for another day to pick up Toothless. Unfortunately, their relief was short-lived; a person forgot to leave a note on Toothless’ cage and the cat was euthanized before the family arrived.

To make matters worse, the Sazams later found out that one of their neighbors actually trapped Toothless and brought him to the shelter.

“Grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren’t supposed to,” Rayden wrote in a heartbreaking letter to the Herald Journal.

Read his full letter below:

My name is Rayden. I am 8 years old and I live in Logan. Yesterday grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren’t supposed to. Because I really don’t know how to write, my PaPa is writing down the things I think and say.

My kitty’s name is Toothless. When I got him I had just seen “How to Train a Dragon” at the movies. My kitty looked just like the dragon Toothless with big green eyes and the hair around his head. Toothless, my cat, has long fluffy hair and sleeps on my bed and loved to play with my brother and me. Toothless would let us carry him around all the time. He was our best friend.

My dad wanted to take him home, but they said he had to go to another office building and pay a fee. The lady at the shelter said it would be OK and told him to come back the next day and we could get Toothless. When my dad came home and told my little brother and me he found Toothless we were so happy and we weren’t scarred or worried anymore.

My dad went back the next day to get our kitty and they told him they didn’t have any long-haired black cats. They only had a white fluffy cat. My dad waited a long time for the lady to come back and talk to him. The same lady that told my dad to come back the next day said she was sorry. She had forgotten to leave a note to tell the people my dad would be there for Toothless and they had just killed my cat that morning. She had just forgotten to write a note to save a member of my family. They killed him and I don’t know why.

When Devin and I knocked on their door and asked if they had seen Toothless they told us no, and that was a lie. My dad and mom tell me and Devin not to lie and that is right. I didn’t think big people lied because they are grown ups and know what is right. Now I don’t know what to do. My cat Toothless is dead; the people that killed him didn’t even give him to my dad so we could bury him. What do I do now?