Tragic turn of events after Adelaide Maltese Cross was found missing in Port Augusta for two years

A missing dog with dementia who found her way home two years after her disappearance has died 24 hours after being reunited with her owners.

Maltese cross Lolly was 16 years old when she escaped from her Adelaide home in December 2022 after a gate was accidentally left open.

Owners Heather Coombes and Guy Frantzen searched for Lolly for months and feared the worst because of her condition, 7News reported.

The couple had given up hope of ever seeing their furry darling alive again, until they got a call last week from a vet telling them that Lolly, now almost 18, had been found. She had been identified by her microchip.

Lolly was found on a remote road north of Port Augusta, over 300 kilometres from home, looking weak and worn.

How she got there and survived for almost 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 expected.

“I’m very emotional, very sad about the way she looks. She’s very, very thin, very frail. But she’ll be home in time to celebrate her 18th birthday,” Mrs Coombes said, holding 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 going to cry again because I’m so emotional.

“She’s our baby.”

Mrs Coombes believed that Lolly knew she was home because she was wagging her tail.

“She usually makes a funny sound, like a cat purring, and she did it while I was holding her,” she said.

She has had Lolly since she was a puppy and says the white dog was part of the family.

“She gets Christmas presents, Christmas cards, she gets spoiled. She means the world to us,” Mrs Coombes said.

Mrs Coombes wants to ‘shout’ at whoever may have taken Lolly, but is ‘so grateful’ to those who found her.

The Maltese cross (pictured before she disappeared) was 16 when she escaped from her home after a gate was accidentally left open. The nearly 18-year-old dog sadly died just a day after being reunited with her family

But in a heartbreaking twist, things took a turn for the worse for Lolly and she passed away surrounded by her family on Thursday, just a day after returning home.

Mrs Coombes believes Lolly decided to hold on so she could be back with her loved ones before she died. She is grateful to have had one more day with her beloved pet.

Ms Coombes also hopes her story will remind owners to get their furry friends microchipped, so they can be reunited with their pet if it ever gets lost.