"Zombie cat" is the nickname recently given to a Florida feline named Bart, who was hit by a car, buried, and apparently rose from the dead a few days later.
"We have seen many amazing cases at our full-service veterinary clinic, but this situation may take the cake," the Humane Society of Tampa said on its website,
ABC News reported Tuesday.
Owner Ellis Hutson, 52, told reporters that he found Bart in the middle of the road two weeks ago. When Hutson came upon him, it appeared he'd been hit by a car, as he lay lifeless in a pool of blood.
"We were so close, I couldn’t stand to bury him," Hutson said of his nearly 2-year-old pet. "I put him on the shoulder of the road and went and got [a neighbor]. He dug a hole and covered up the cat with dirt. I witnessed him bury the cat."
"As far as I know he wasn't breathing," said the neighbor, David Liss. "I looked at it, and I looked at it, and I didn't see the chest moving up and down or anything and I said, 'you know, well, look at the blood — it's dead.'"
Five days later, however, Bart showed up at the home of yet another neighbor, much to everyone's shock.
"It was unbelievable," said neighbor Dusty Allbritton. "The cat was smelly, the cat was dirty. The cat had a big hole in the side of his head.”
Upon getting the phone call from his neighbor, Hutson rushed to the scene, and whisked Bart to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. There, Dr. Justin Boorstein put Bart back together again. He wired the fractures in his jaw, and administered a feeding tube.
He said Bart is expected to be alright, but might have to get his left eye removed depending on how well he heals.
Since Bart reappeared, everyone has been asking how the Kitty Lazarus escaped his own grave.
"We have two cats and they play together all the time and they roam around with each other," Hutson explained. "He might have went looking for his brother and dug him up — but I have no idea."
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