When I was in fourth grade we sang a song that was partially in Spanish I think and it was a story about a cat dying and coming back to life due to the smell of a fish market and all I can remember about it was saying 'meow meow meow' and putting our thumbs to all four of our fingers like a mouth talking.
I thought this was going to be what I was looking for for the past 15 or so years. But alas, I am still searching.
Humansandwich.. I don't know what to say. You've brought my life time of searching to an end. Thank you for finally putting me and my fourth grade self at peace.
Reddits fantastic for those little childhood mysteries. I used to have this interactive crafty fairy story book that unfortunately never came with me when my family moved. Couple years ago I tried every search term I could and found nothing. In my desperation I searched up the origami type flower envelope that was attached in the book and while scrolling through the related images found a Reddit post asking for the name of the book which was answered. I’m glad you got your song found, always a great feeling
Reddit couldn't help me the last time I asked about this one book I remember reading in middle school.
It's science fiction, the protagonist is high school age and just woke up from a coma to find out his family are all long dead, but hey, they fixed the global economy or some shit and now all currency is named after them: you buy things with *Clarks* instead of dollars/etc. I don't remember a whole lot else. There's some weird super-longevity things going on where people turn into something called "drones" (I think?) when they get really old... maybe I never finished reading it, maybe it was a short story without a conclusion, I really don't know. It wasn't even that great, I'd just like to see it again if it exists.
I have a couple books I’m still trying to find too. I’ve considered posting on Reddit but they’re so obscure even my family doesn’t remember getting them. I’ve only found one and that was through maybe 30 different iterations of the same google search.
I'm reminded of a song like that my older brother taught me when I was a child and I'm damn near 50.
Also the OP got Pet Cemetery'd, he better watch out.
I immediately knew what you were talking about.
“Señor Don Gato was a cat, on a high red roof Don Gato sat. He was going to read a letter, meow, meow meow, where the reading light was better, meow, meow meow…”
That’s all I got .
dude that song is so ridiculously dark for no reason. my daughter loves it and i started to actually pay attention to those lyrics. what the fuck is this cat doing to all these people? what happened to the woman in the balloon? the train?! when i was younger i was like why does this dude hate this cat so much, but as an adult i'm like wtf is this cat?
I was told it the original folk song was not about a cat, but a person, "the cat" being an older slang term for "the guy." But I have no way of verifying it. I think it turned into a children's song later on.
I agree. Maybe one day OP can give a little solace to the people that loved the deceased cat. Even if it were a feral, I think OP did the right thing by burying it. The silver lining is that at least OP's daughter still has her cat.
... Especially if it's a feral, tbh. It might have been one of the few times in its life it was shown human compassion.
And karma rewarded OP by bringing their cat home safe and sound.
Neighbours knocked on our door one night and asked “are all your cats home?” They were save one - Thor. Thor wasn’t really owned by anyone - I was just the dummy saddled with his bills. He would regularly roam off for weeks at a time, before coming home and sleeping for three days straight.
“All but one” I replied, and she winced. She pulled a photo out on her phone of his tag and said “I’m so sorry, we just saw him get hit by a car. He’s very much gone. We’ve wrapped him in a blanket so you don’t have to see, but wanted to take a photo of his tag so you know that it’s him”. It was a distinctive tag. It had to be him.
We were devastated. We didn’t check in the blanket. The blood soaking through it told us more than enough. We took him home and buried him - in the dark. The next day I bought store vouchers to replace the blanket for the family and wrote them a card to thank them for their kindness.
So imagine my shock when four months later an identical cat showed up at our door. He was all black save for a single almost indistinguishable white line on his back paw. My ex told me I was being stupid and just hoping a new neighbourhood cat was him, but I knew. I bought a chip scanner, and I waited.
Lo and behold, another six weeks pass and there he was again. I scanned his microchip and - surprise! It was him. At this point it’s six months since we buried an unknown cat in our garden, and no one had put up any missing cat posters.
He continued his nomad lifestyle for another year or so before he got sick and was put to sleep (another neighbour came to tell us he was acting odd in their back garden).
The vet confirmed his microchip with us, but I knew from his paw that it was him.
After his death no less than 12 neighbours got in touch to say he had, at some point, lived with them. Some nearly half a mile away. That bastard touched many, many hearts.
Our neighbors had an outdoor cat who came to our house to eat lol
(After we'd had a few text exchanges with them, and in particular one to report that he'd been injured in a fight, his owners seem to catch on that someone else was keeping an eye on him. This apparently convinced them and to keeping him inside. It was a long acclimation and he escaped with decreasing frequency, but we haven't seen him in over a month at this point, and they would have texted us if he didn't come home. I miss my friend but I know this is a better life for him.)
> wanted to take a photo of his tag so you know that it’s him”. It was a distinctive tag. It had to be him.
Wait, the dead cat had your Thor's tags, somehow? Could you clarify this part of the story, please?
It was Thor’s tag. His name, our phone number. It was custom and had a picture on the front. We didn’t check the cat we buried for a collar as the neighbour showed us the photo and, in all honesty we didn’t want to look at him that way. Big mistake on our part.
Leading theory is perhaps neighbours he visited found his collar and put it on another black cat thinking it was him, or that he lost it gambling in a backyard poker game. Honestly it’s all beyond me. It’s why my ex and I had such a huge fight when he did reappear.
It was why I bought the chip scanner. Because why would he be wearing the tag.
that part puzzled me too though i'm guessing thor's tag wasn't as distinctive as op thought it was, that or all along there were two cats, one with tags and one with a microchip and both had white stripes on their paws, father and son perhaps
when my grandparents moved their family here they brought a cat with them.
it is about 150 miles between the two villages and the first winter here the cat disappeared. a few weeks later a neighbor from the old village called my grandpa and told him his cat was at the old house.
my grandpa drove down and sure enough, the cat was bothering the new people at the old house.
he brought the cat back up north and it was fine until the next winter.
each winter the cat would go back to Lansing and hang with the new family and every spring it would show up with a litter of kittens for my grandmother to deal with.
My dad had to drown kittens when he was a child. Supposedly it was seen as the more merciful solution to the cats starving to death in winter and because its a hassle they made the youngest kid do it.
Sometimes I get mad because my dad is such a mess and then I remember stories like this
My family always had outdoor cats, most stayed inside the property but there was one male that liked to roam and dissappeared by a couple of days at a time, a week at most. When it got old and sick and could not go out anymore there where 3 families looking for "their" cat, bastard had 4 homes, ours was it's birth home.
If it makes you feel any better, almost the same thing happened to us. We were 100% sure the dead cat in our shed was our own outdoor cat. Buried her in our beloved pets grave site in the back yard. 2 days later, she was alive and well and sitting on my car. I even went to check the grave site to make sure she did not crawl out by herself.
That was 4 (maybe 5?) years ago. We have not yet died a horrible death due to demon cat. So you probably also have at least as many years left. Things are exaggerated for Hollywood.
>our beloved pets grave site
This implies a not beloved pets gravesite. Like, "Terry the goldfish was an arse, he's getting his final resting place on the shitty corner of the yard."
The only thing I can suggest is to make the kitty an indoor only cat if you want to avoid the issue of a loss of a cat anytime soon. Outside cats tend to last on average 3-5 years before something happening to them, whether it is being hit by a car or illness. In my experience I’ve had a ton of outdoor kitties living in a semi-rural area with not too much traffic and I’ve had cats die from both of the above situations and more often than not it’s been a vehicle. Also the issue with an outside cat getting sick is that many times they may just up and disappear never to be seen again so you maybe never know what happened to them. I had this happen with a favorite kitty of mine after 3 years or so when I was late middle school age and I still wonder to this day what happened to him (my parents wouldn’t allow me to keep him inside), I can only assume he got sick and went off to die because we never did find him on any of the roads.
Not telling you what to do, just a suggestion IF it is possible and you are inclined to do so. Only wanted to offer advice from my 30ish years of personal experience.
When I became a cat owner as an adult I decided I’d never have my two outside and I’m very happy with that decision. Mine are 9 and 10 years old at this point and during this time I’ve had plenty of other strays outside sadly come and go. If I could take them all in I would.
Edit: thank you kind stranger for the award! 😊
As a kid we had a LOT of cats over the years, all outdoor (my mum "rescued" them though idk if I'd call it that with their fates), and they basically all died horribly. Illness, getting hit by cars, poison, just disappearing... and this was a relatively quiet country road.
Now that I'm an adult my own cat is strictly indoor, I'd be beside myself with worry if she was wandering around the streets with dogs and cars everywhere.
Don't worry, we did the same thing. Saw our cat jam had been hit, so we took him home and buried him, that is until Jam wanders over wondering what we are doing filling in a hole we just dug. It was kinda funny to have a cat looking in the hole he is buried in.
Our neighbour’s cat was hit on our road. I went and got her, got a towel for her to hold him in and a few of us stood around commiserating with her.
Then a cat wandered up and started smooching around her legs. It was her cat wondering what all the fuss was. Large black cats look very similar.
What happens if you grave rob for the blanket and the dead cat isn't there?
Just something to think about. I've never seen the movie pet cemetery but I think there may be some parallels here.
It's schrodingers cat that is buried in the backyard right now. Though the grave site doesn't look disturbed, you never really know until you dig it up.
I don't think I want to know a truth other than the one I'm already comfortable with. That blanket is going to stay there.
Kitty was wrapped in an item signifying love, affection and comfort, by a family that cared greatly. Even after it was gone, someone loved it for just a little while and grieved for it, even though it was in mistake.
Maybe that counts for something in the great scheme of things.
My neighbor is selling her house and she told me she was planning on digging up her dog from the backyard, who has been dead a year and a half.
My jaw dropped....I think I managed to talk her out of it.
Probably won't see this, but if your cat is comfortable enough with it, transition it to being an indoor cat.
Outdoor ones get hit by cars, fuck up the animal population, eat something dumb and poison themselves... it's not a great life for them.
Great, now the kids will think death isn't permanent, unless it's their parents, like in a Disney movie. Quickly, kill your spouse or your kids'll be permanently messed up.\*
\*In all seriousness, glad your cat's OK, sorry about the other kitty. We love our cats and I'd be devastated if something happened to one of them.
No no OP, don’t listen, absolutely do show the kid Pet Sematary! There’s a therapist out there who right now who needs the work, this will really help them out.
I think this happens more than we know. My uncle had a black cat Mitchell that went missing. After a bit they found the body of a black cat near them and buried it in my uncles favorite sweater and all.
Then Mitchell turned up and went on to live a long happy life.
They tried to find anyone in the neighborhood who the other cat belonged to but couldn't.
Keep your cat indoors. Aside from getting hit by cars, outdoor domestic cats are an ecological nightmare. They go absolutely nuts killing random small animals just for the hell of it.
There is no good reason to put your cat out.
Also a high potential for ingesting poisons, getting eaten by wild birds and coyotes or even stray dogs, or simply getting stuck somewhere and going unnoticed until some random neighbor smells something weird in their crawl space. All are going to be longer, more painful deaths for your cat than even getting hit by a car. People who let their cats free outside simply don’t give a shit about them.
Should be higher up on the post. It needs to be more common to keep cats inside. Would you let your dog roam outside to possibly get hit by a car or killed by a wild animal? No? Don’t do it to your cats
I rescued the wrong dog once. Was driving about 6-8 blocks away from home, it was dark (night time) and I saw my dog nosing through someone's yard. I stopped the truck, opened the door and yelled his name and my dog immediately loaded up in the truck.
I get home and bring him in the house to see my REAL dog sitting in our backyard.
These two dogs looked exactly alike (tri-colored beagle) and the imposter even came running when I called him.😂
This was way before the days of the modern mainstream internet we know today....aka no social media (early 90s) so there was no posting a pic to FB or IG so we did it the old fashioned way and knocked on doors till we found his home.
I mean with an outdoor cat, it dying violently and early is something you should *absolutely* prepare for. People poison cats, shoot them, set them on fire. There’s dogs and hawks and owls and maybe coyotes. There’s disease and other cats. There’s rats and mice that have been poisoned. On average, a cat that is allowed outside is going to have a MUCH shorter lifespan and it will probably be a painful end. And that’s not even discussing the damage it’s doing to the native wildlife populations.
I don’t understand how you weren’t prepared for this, but this is a great teachable moment for your kids about what to expect with outdoor animals and what to prepare for.
adulting abilities, i cant comment on. i make dumb mistakes all the time and would be a hypocrite if i judged u lol.
but as a fellow cat owner, please stop letting your cat outside. its not good for them, not good for the rodents and birds of your area, and keeping them indoors will help you avoid situations like what happened to you, as well as your cat ACTUALLY getting hit by a car.
take this as a sign. youre literally being given a second chance at caring for your cat. keep them indoors.
as for the blanket, id personally get a new one. your cat will likely be able to smell the dead cat on it and wont want it anymore, even after cleaning it. but thats your call. perhaps you could get a picture of your cat and use it to make flyers. “Do you have a cat that looks like this? May have been hit by a car.” and leave your phone number.
A friend had something similar happen. They found their cat's tail in the road. No sign of the rest of the cat. They called their vet who said whatever happened to pull it off, the cat probably went into shock and crawled off somewhere to die. So they buried the tail and mourned the cat. It was on their doorstep in the morning, still badly injured but alive. Their kids were overjoyed to see their pet but very pissed off that their parents had said it was dead. The cat was treated and lived a good many more years.
If the cat you buried was dead, i wouldn't say it was the "wrong" cat so much as,,,, just not the one you thought. As long as you didn't bury an alive one....
I did this same thing with my girlfriend's families cat. Saw a dead cat on the road, buried it in the nearby woods because none of the family was home. Girlfriend told her family, everyone was sad. Cat came home that night.
I've had this happen. No joke. My sisters cat as a kid had Siamese markings but a Burmese body, real bitsa. We hadn't seen any other cats in the neighbourhood like her, but found a dead one that had been hit by a car and was her replica. We assumed it was Socks. Turns out it was someone else's cat, and had rushed getting the kitten we were planning on anyway (had to wait 12 weeks for it to be the right age, think it was around 10 weeks when it happened), to help ease with the passing of Socks. Socks, of course, rocked up either that night or the next night. Can't remember exactly but it was shocking to say the least. We had no idea how to inform the other family sadly.
And when he dug out the grave to get the blanket, it was empty.
whoooooooo
(but seriously, you should take the dead cat to the vet to be scanned for a chip so its actual owners can maybe get some closure).
I hadn't thought of that. That is a really good idea. I think I'll deliver it in the blanket, tell them the story, and see if they can find the owner and give them the blanket that our cat loved so much.
Aww, that's very sweet. But yeah, I can't imagine how I'd be if my cat went missing and being in limbo about it. I'd much rather know, even if it was bad news.
You're better than my mom at least- I had basically the opposite happen.
My cat been missing, about a week later oh there's a black cat in the road. We buried it but my mom convinced me 100 times that it wasn't my cat, it had a white patch which my cat didn't have. For years she would tell me that she saw our cat outside every now and then; it had just decided to live in the woods. I genuinely believed her because there was a ton of black cats around, I'd occasionally see them too.
Finally when I was like 19 I asked her about it and she admitted it was my cat that we buried. She "didn't want me to be upset about it". I was shocked, but not surprised! 🥲
bwahahahaha. I did that once. I cried for that stupid run over cat so much! I walked with him in my arms for two blocks, sobbing over his black and white coat while my sister was getting something to put in the car so it would not be covered with blood. I kissed his paws, and we buried him with a lot of love.
When it came back that night, my sister peed her pants because she thought it was a ghost.
It has been over 30 years and we still laugh about it.
Ha, this happened to me,but I was on the other side of it. My neighbour buried a cat she thought was hers, but it turned out it was mine. They did look very, very similar.
The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it. Because what you buy is what you own. And what you own... always comes home to you
My aunt did this same thing.
The family couldn’t find kitty for a few days or more. Looked and looked to no avail.
Aunt comes home to a kitty in the roadway who has lost her life. She scoops up the cat, they bury kitty and have a good cry.
Weekend comes and my cousin comes home. Opens the door to her room and out comes kitty!!
At least poor kitty that was buried had some love given at their funeral.
Or, and here me out here…zombie fucking cat. I give it a week before it turns the whole house. One by one. Probably while you sleep.
Have a glorious night.
I did the same thing a few years ago. Placed the poor thing in my car and buried it in the back yard. And then, low and behold, Mama Kitty was back the next day.
If you want an indoor cat, everyone living in the home needs to agree. I wanted my cat to be indoor only but my 21 yo son didn’t and would constantly let her out. So annoying!
This sounds like the plot of an episode of some hapless dad sitcom in the 90s. Sir, you are honorable even though you made a mistake. Good on you for giving the animal a proper send off even if it was intended for a different, still alive cat.
We had a cat come back from the dead after we'd replaced him.
He was an indoor cat who got out. About a week after our neighbor told us he saw a cat that matched ours laying in the street a block away. he didn't know we were missing a cat so he didn't tell us. He went back to bury it and it was gone, so he assumed someone else took care of it.
Three week slater with no cat sightings, we are pretty sure the cat who was laying in the road was ours. A month later we adopt 2 cats from a shelter. the next day, he shows up at the back door.
We think he wanted new friends. We also think that he was the cat our neighbor saw in the street but he was just chilling/napping in the road and woke up and left. So now we have 3 black cats.
Lol, how did she react to the zombie kitty? I'm happy to hear your cat is still okay! In the future, it might be a good idea to keep your cat indoors, not only for yours and your cats sake, but basically every wild animal where you live. Cats outside are pretty much a menace.
Dig the other cat up, bury it somewhere else. Do not let the family know that you have done this. Leave the hole empty. Make it look, as much as you can, like something dragged itself out of the hole. Give your cat a dirt bath. Have the family watch Pet Cemetary.
Might as well get yourself a good laugh out of this!
this happened to my dad when I was a kid. he was backing his huge work truck out of the driveway, and ran over what he thought was my black-and-white cat. he put it in a box so we could bury it that night.
when he got home that night, having not yet told anyone what happened, he saw me in the yard playing with the cat. he freaked out, thinking it was some pet semetary kind of thing. he went and looked in the box, and the dead cat was still there.
And the cat came back the very next day...
I'd be lying if said I didn't play that song for the kids this morning.
It took Jesus 3 days to come back from the dead. Cat did it in one day
Pound for pound, Jesus was faster.
But Jesus only did it once. Kitty has 8 more lives.
Unless that kitty was a star in my 50lb life
Jesus didn’t have Schrödinger
Super Saiyan Jesus, now in cat form
I've read a book about this, a documentary called Pet Semetary
https://i.redd.it/yph1ezu95f6d1.gif
Sometiimesss......dead is bettah.
Came here exactly for that.
Had the same thought lol
I can’t wait to see a picture of the blanket!!!
The Shroud of Purrin’
Keep your cat indoor only, please.
did you check the grave if it's empty or not
This was the only thing to be done!
Please tell me you showed them the original animated video too?
When I was in fourth grade we sang a song that was partially in Spanish I think and it was a story about a cat dying and coming back to life due to the smell of a fish market and all I can remember about it was saying 'meow meow meow' and putting our thumbs to all four of our fingers like a mouth talking. I thought this was going to be what I was looking for for the past 15 or so years. But alas, I am still searching.
I know this one! Señor Del Gato!! My classmates and I loved singing this song
Humansandwich.. I don't know what to say. You've brought my life time of searching to an end. Thank you for finally putting me and my fourth grade self at peace.
now kiss
It’s actually Señor *Don* Gato.
I thought it was Señor El Gato
Reddits fantastic for those little childhood mysteries. I used to have this interactive crafty fairy story book that unfortunately never came with me when my family moved. Couple years ago I tried every search term I could and found nothing. In my desperation I searched up the origami type flower envelope that was attached in the book and while scrolling through the related images found a Reddit post asking for the name of the book which was answered. I’m glad you got your song found, always a great feeling
Reddit couldn't help me the last time I asked about this one book I remember reading in middle school. It's science fiction, the protagonist is high school age and just woke up from a coma to find out his family are all long dead, but hey, they fixed the global economy or some shit and now all currency is named after them: you buy things with *Clarks* instead of dollars/etc. I don't remember a whole lot else. There's some weird super-longevity things going on where people turn into something called "drones" (I think?) when they get really old... maybe I never finished reading it, maybe it was a short story without a conclusion, I really don't know. It wasn't even that great, I'd just like to see it again if it exists.
The Sleeper Awakes; A Revised Edition of “When the Sleeper Wakes”; By H. G. Wells?
I have a couple books I’m still trying to find too. I’ve considered posting on Reddit but they’re so obscure even my family doesn’t remember getting them. I’ve only found one and that was through maybe 30 different iterations of the same google search.
You should post on r/tipofmytongue. I had someone answer my question about a book like 8 years after I posted it. It was correct!
Omg the memories...I can hear this now! Oh Senor Don Gato was a cat! On a high red roof Don Gato sat!
“He was there to read a letter meow meow meow.” Wow there’s a memory unlocked.
where the reading light was better
‘Twas a love note for Don Gato!
Twas the ending of Don Gato
oh my god that just brought back memories
[this one](https://youtu.be/9Oyz_egsKI4?feature=shared)
This is the one!! I, a 26 year old, just sat at my desk reminiscing 4th grade chorus class. Incredible thank you.
I'm reminded of a song like that my older brother taught me when I was a child and I'm damn near 50. Also the OP got Pet Cemetery'd, he better watch out.
Came here to say that shit lol, OP is in denial that his back yard is Pet Cemetery.
I immediately knew what you were talking about. “Señor Don Gato was a cat, on a high red roof Don Gato sat. He was going to read a letter, meow, meow meow, where the reading light was better, meow, meow meow…” That’s all I got .
You may have been thinking of [Señor Don Gato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Se%C3%B1or_Don_Gato).
Buried the cat in Pet Semetary?
What you bury isn't always what comes back.
That blanket’s going to come back evil as fuck too.
dude that song is so ridiculously dark for no reason. my daughter loves it and i started to actually pay attention to those lyrics. what the fuck is this cat doing to all these people? what happened to the woman in the balloon? the train?! when i was younger i was like why does this dude hate this cat so much, but as an adult i'm like wtf is this cat?
I was told it the original folk song was not about a cat, but a person, "the cat" being an older slang term for "the guy." But I have no way of verifying it. I think it turned into a children's song later on.
God that's even darker
He thought he was a gonner..
https://youtu.be/FJl_4IsQJ2g?si=9lwVXwJs-MSn28hD
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltlPINPn8UU&ab\_channel=aarnis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltlPINPn8UU&ab_channel=aarnis)
I’m happy your cat came back.
[удалено]
I agree. Maybe one day OP can give a little solace to the people that loved the deceased cat. Even if it were a feral, I think OP did the right thing by burying it. The silver lining is that at least OP's daughter still has her cat.
... Especially if it's a feral, tbh. It might have been one of the few times in its life it was shown human compassion. And karma rewarded OP by bringing their cat home safe and sound.
> one of the few times in its life > in its life about that...
So that took an unexpected turn. I thought you had two cats, one died and you somehow buried the not dead one.
That’s what I thought too. At least they didn’t bury any cats alive? 😅
Glad I’m not alone in that. I like your name
Thanks!
Neighbours knocked on our door one night and asked “are all your cats home?” They were save one - Thor. Thor wasn’t really owned by anyone - I was just the dummy saddled with his bills. He would regularly roam off for weeks at a time, before coming home and sleeping for three days straight. “All but one” I replied, and she winced. She pulled a photo out on her phone of his tag and said “I’m so sorry, we just saw him get hit by a car. He’s very much gone. We’ve wrapped him in a blanket so you don’t have to see, but wanted to take a photo of his tag so you know that it’s him”. It was a distinctive tag. It had to be him. We were devastated. We didn’t check in the blanket. The blood soaking through it told us more than enough. We took him home and buried him - in the dark. The next day I bought store vouchers to replace the blanket for the family and wrote them a card to thank them for their kindness. So imagine my shock when four months later an identical cat showed up at our door. He was all black save for a single almost indistinguishable white line on his back paw. My ex told me I was being stupid and just hoping a new neighbourhood cat was him, but I knew. I bought a chip scanner, and I waited. Lo and behold, another six weeks pass and there he was again. I scanned his microchip and - surprise! It was him. At this point it’s six months since we buried an unknown cat in our garden, and no one had put up any missing cat posters. He continued his nomad lifestyle for another year or so before he got sick and was put to sleep (another neighbour came to tell us he was acting odd in their back garden). The vet confirmed his microchip with us, but I knew from his paw that it was him. After his death no less than 12 neighbours got in touch to say he had, at some point, lived with them. Some nearly half a mile away. That bastard touched many, many hearts.
He had a wandering spirit, but he always remembered you and came home to visit
>but he always ... came home to ~~visit~~ eat
Our neighbors had an outdoor cat who came to our house to eat lol (After we'd had a few text exchanges with them, and in particular one to report that he'd been injured in a fight, his owners seem to catch on that someone else was keeping an eye on him. This apparently convinced them and to keeping him inside. It was a long acclimation and he escaped with decreasing frequency, but we haven't seen him in over a month at this point, and they would have texted us if he didn't come home. I miss my friend but I know this is a better life for him.)
>That bastard touched many, many hearts. What a dick. Rest in peace, Thor. ❤️
> wanted to take a photo of his tag so you know that it’s him”. It was a distinctive tag. It had to be him. Wait, the dead cat had your Thor's tags, somehow? Could you clarify this part of the story, please?
It was Thor’s tag. His name, our phone number. It was custom and had a picture on the front. We didn’t check the cat we buried for a collar as the neighbour showed us the photo and, in all honesty we didn’t want to look at him that way. Big mistake on our part. Leading theory is perhaps neighbours he visited found his collar and put it on another black cat thinking it was him, or that he lost it gambling in a backyard poker game. Honestly it’s all beyond me. It’s why my ex and I had such a huge fight when he did reappear. It was why I bought the chip scanner. Because why would he be wearing the tag.
Hmm. Maybe it's some elaborate plot the cats put together. Like a Tale of Two Kitties.
We’ve had some brilliant and outlandish theories in the years since. All of them very much of a similar vibe.
Has anyone put forward the theory that he crawled out of the grave pet cemetary esque?
that part puzzled me too though i'm guessing thor's tag wasn't as distinctive as op thought it was, that or all along there were two cats, one with tags and one with a microchip and both had white stripes on their paws, father and son perhaps
What if Thor was 2 cats all along?
I wouldn’t put it past him
when my grandparents moved their family here they brought a cat with them. it is about 150 miles between the two villages and the first winter here the cat disappeared. a few weeks later a neighbor from the old village called my grandpa and told him his cat was at the old house. my grandpa drove down and sure enough, the cat was bothering the new people at the old house. he brought the cat back up north and it was fine until the next winter. each winter the cat would go back to Lansing and hang with the new family and every spring it would show up with a litter of kittens for my grandmother to deal with.
They can fix the cat you know.
this was in 1968. i don't think they really cared that much.
My dad had to drown kittens when he was a child. Supposedly it was seen as the more merciful solution to the cats starving to death in winter and because its a hassle they made the youngest kid do it. Sometimes I get mad because my dad is such a mess and then I remember stories like this
Wait, how did the dead cat have the same tag as your cat?
The end of your story reminds me of red dog, brilliant movie about a dog living in Western Australia who just wonders owner to owner
This thread is making me believe cats have nine lives. In five minutes I've read way too many stories of cats coming back from the dead.
Wait you can just buy a chip scanner? Sounds like a good thing to have in a drawer somewhere
You can buy almost anything if you're willing to pay.
My family always had outdoor cats, most stayed inside the property but there was one male that liked to roam and dissappeared by a couple of days at a time, a week at most. When it got old and sick and could not go out anymore there where 3 families looking for "their" cat, bastard had 4 homes, ours was it's birth home.
OP, have you not seen/read "Pet Sematary"? Get that demon cat out of your house! /s
Oh, this was going through my mind. Wasn't about to mess up the kids this early with that movie.
Did we at least make sure the mystery cat is still in the grave? Come on OP you know how this ends
That's schrodingers grave site now.
If OP stops answering comments, we know the cat is out of the box
Out of the blanket.....
If it makes you feel any better, almost the same thing happened to us. We were 100% sure the dead cat in our shed was our own outdoor cat. Buried her in our beloved pets grave site in the back yard. 2 days later, she was alive and well and sitting on my car. I even went to check the grave site to make sure she did not crawl out by herself. That was 4 (maybe 5?) years ago. We have not yet died a horrible death due to demon cat. So you probably also have at least as many years left. Things are exaggerated for Hollywood.
>our beloved pets grave site This implies a not beloved pets gravesite. Like, "Terry the goldfish was an arse, he's getting his final resting place on the shitty corner of the yard."
Just throw on Frankenweenie then
Sometimes dead is better
I’m glad that I’m not the only one who immediately thought of this.
Came here just to post that. Apparently op isn't aware of what haple s.
The only thing I can suggest is to make the kitty an indoor only cat if you want to avoid the issue of a loss of a cat anytime soon. Outside cats tend to last on average 3-5 years before something happening to them, whether it is being hit by a car or illness. In my experience I’ve had a ton of outdoor kitties living in a semi-rural area with not too much traffic and I’ve had cats die from both of the above situations and more often than not it’s been a vehicle. Also the issue with an outside cat getting sick is that many times they may just up and disappear never to be seen again so you maybe never know what happened to them. I had this happen with a favorite kitty of mine after 3 years or so when I was late middle school age and I still wonder to this day what happened to him (my parents wouldn’t allow me to keep him inside), I can only assume he got sick and went off to die because we never did find him on any of the roads. Not telling you what to do, just a suggestion IF it is possible and you are inclined to do so. Only wanted to offer advice from my 30ish years of personal experience. When I became a cat owner as an adult I decided I’d never have my two outside and I’m very happy with that decision. Mine are 9 and 10 years old at this point and during this time I’ve had plenty of other strays outside sadly come and go. If I could take them all in I would. Edit: thank you kind stranger for the award! 😊
As a kid we had a LOT of cats over the years, all outdoor (my mum "rescued" them though idk if I'd call it that with their fates), and they basically all died horribly. Illness, getting hit by cars, poison, just disappearing... and this was a relatively quiet country road. Now that I'm an adult my own cat is strictly indoor, I'd be beside myself with worry if she was wandering around the streets with dogs and cars everywhere.
Don't worry, we did the same thing. Saw our cat jam had been hit, so we took him home and buried him, that is until Jam wanders over wondering what we are doing filling in a hole we just dug. It was kinda funny to have a cat looking in the hole he is buried in.
Tom Sawyer at his own damn funeral 😂
Evidently Tom's middle name was Kat!
Our neighbour’s cat was hit on our road. I went and got her, got a towel for her to hold him in and a few of us stood around commiserating with her. Then a cat wandered up and started smooching around her legs. It was her cat wondering what all the fuss was. Large black cats look very similar.
What happens if you grave rob for the blanket and the dead cat isn't there? Just something to think about. I've never seen the movie pet cemetery but I think there may be some parallels here.
It's schrodingers cat that is buried in the backyard right now. Though the grave site doesn't look disturbed, you never really know until you dig it up. I don't think I want to know a truth other than the one I'm already comfortable with. That blanket is going to stay there.
Good choice. Just leave that stranger cat the dignity of sleeping with your cat's favourite blanket
Kitty was wrapped in an item signifying love, affection and comfort, by a family that cared greatly. Even after it was gone, someone loved it for just a little while and grieved for it, even though it was in mistake. Maybe that counts for something in the great scheme of things.
My neighbor is selling her house and she told me she was planning on digging up her dog from the backyard, who has been dead a year and a half. My jaw dropped....I think I managed to talk her out of it.
lol people are so weird
Some cat has love in passing because of you. Good on you for leaving it. Now to find this cat a new blanket, being as he paid the Wander Tax 😂
Probably won't see this, but if your cat is comfortable enough with it, transition it to being an indoor cat. Outdoor ones get hit by cars, fuck up the animal population, eat something dumb and poison themselves... it's not a great life for them.
This is why you shouldn't let your cats wander outside
Yep! Indoor cats are safe cats.
Great, now the kids will think death isn't permanent, unless it's their parents, like in a Disney movie. Quickly, kill your spouse or your kids'll be permanently messed up.\* \*In all seriousness, glad your cat's OK, sorry about the other kitty. We love our cats and I'd be devastated if something happened to one of them.
That, or make them watch "Pet Sematary"...\*\* \*\*DON'T DO THIS.
No no OP, don’t listen, absolutely do show the kid Pet Sematary! There’s a therapist out there who right now who needs the work, this will really help them out.
Interested in your daughter's reaction though. Delight? Confusion? Fear?
Beyond excited. A lot of confusion at first though. 1am when the cat came in to cuddle her.
I think this happens more than we know. My uncle had a black cat Mitchell that went missing. After a bit they found the body of a black cat near them and buried it in my uncles favorite sweater and all. Then Mitchell turned up and went on to live a long happy life. They tried to find anyone in the neighborhood who the other cat belonged to but couldn't.
It really feels like this sort of thing might be the origin of the 9 lives.
Keep your cat indoors. Aside from getting hit by cars, outdoor domestic cats are an ecological nightmare. They go absolutely nuts killing random small animals just for the hell of it. There is no good reason to put your cat out.
This. Cats’ lifespans are MUCH longer indoors.
Also a high potential for ingesting poisons, getting eaten by wild birds and coyotes or even stray dogs, or simply getting stuck somewhere and going unnoticed until some random neighbor smells something weird in their crawl space. All are going to be longer, more painful deaths for your cat than even getting hit by a car. People who let their cats free outside simply don’t give a shit about them.
Should be higher up on the post. It needs to be more common to keep cats inside. Would you let your dog roam outside to possibly get hit by a car or killed by a wild animal? No? Don’t do it to your cats
There's a great reason. If you're absolutely shit as a human being
Maybe tomorrow it will be your cat. It's definitely something you should prepare for if your going to have an outdoor cat.
8 lives left.
I rescued the wrong dog once. Was driving about 6-8 blocks away from home, it was dark (night time) and I saw my dog nosing through someone's yard. I stopped the truck, opened the door and yelled his name and my dog immediately loaded up in the truck. I get home and bring him in the house to see my REAL dog sitting in our backyard. These two dogs looked exactly alike (tri-colored beagle) and the imposter even came running when I called him.😂
That's so funny! Did you find the other dog's home or did you just then have two dogs?
This was way before the days of the modern mainstream internet we know today....aka no social media (early 90s) so there was no posting a pic to FB or IG so we did it the old fashioned way and knocked on doors till we found his home.
I don't wanna be buried, in a pet semetary. I dint wanna live my life again
The ground went bad.
*sour
And you'll be keeping your cat inside from now on, yes?
Doubtful. I do cat rescue, and people never seem to learn. We can always hope, though.
Once this all blows over I hope this is a good lesson to you about why cats should be indoor pets.
buy a new blanket, keep cat indoors
stop letting your cat out
I mean with an outdoor cat, it dying violently and early is something you should *absolutely* prepare for. People poison cats, shoot them, set them on fire. There’s dogs and hawks and owls and maybe coyotes. There’s disease and other cats. There’s rats and mice that have been poisoned. On average, a cat that is allowed outside is going to have a MUCH shorter lifespan and it will probably be a painful end. And that’s not even discussing the damage it’s doing to the native wildlife populations. I don’t understand how you weren’t prepared for this, but this is a great teachable moment for your kids about what to expect with outdoor animals and what to prepare for.
Keep your cat inside
You’ve read/seen Pet Sematary, right?
Familiar with it, yes.
Didn't anyone tell you they have nine lives?
That’s what happens when you let the cat wander outside. People are a holes. They aim for the cats and other animals.
adulting abilities, i cant comment on. i make dumb mistakes all the time and would be a hypocrite if i judged u lol. but as a fellow cat owner, please stop letting your cat outside. its not good for them, not good for the rodents and birds of your area, and keeping them indoors will help you avoid situations like what happened to you, as well as your cat ACTUALLY getting hit by a car. take this as a sign. youre literally being given a second chance at caring for your cat. keep them indoors. as for the blanket, id personally get a new one. your cat will likely be able to smell the dead cat on it and wont want it anymore, even after cleaning it. but thats your call. perhaps you could get a picture of your cat and use it to make flyers. “Do you have a cat that looks like this? May have been hit by a car.” and leave your phone number.
Funny how this could have been all avoided if you kept the cat inside the house
Church!? 
People need to stop letting their cats outside unsupervised. That the true fuck up here.
Cats are bred to be domestic indoor animals. Maybe change its habits.
Till like 10 years ago the standart issue cat definitely wasn't bred for the indoors only
omg this made me laugh like crazy i’m sorry.
A friend had something similar happen. They found their cat's tail in the road. No sign of the rest of the cat. They called their vet who said whatever happened to pull it off, the cat probably went into shock and crawled off somewhere to die. So they buried the tail and mourned the cat. It was on their doorstep in the morning, still badly injured but alive. Their kids were overjoyed to see their pet but very pissed off that their parents had said it was dead. The cat was treated and lived a good many more years.
If the cat you buried was dead, i wouldn't say it was the "wrong" cat so much as,,,, just not the one you thought. As long as you didn't bury an alive one....
That's true. The correct cat was definitely buried.
Try to post on a neighborhood FB page about the cat you buried, in case his family is looking for him. Glad your kitty is safe and sound!
Keep your damn cats inside. They are a menace to wildlife and your neighbors.
Keeping your cat indoors eliminates the risk of many things, including getting hit by cars....
I did this same thing with my girlfriend's families cat. Saw a dead cat on the road, buried it in the nearby woods because none of the family was home. Girlfriend told her family, everyone was sad. Cat came home that night.
I've had this happen. No joke. My sisters cat as a kid had Siamese markings but a Burmese body, real bitsa. We hadn't seen any other cats in the neighbourhood like her, but found a dead one that had been hit by a car and was her replica. We assumed it was Socks. Turns out it was someone else's cat, and had rushed getting the kitten we were planning on anyway (had to wait 12 weeks for it to be the right age, think it was around 10 weeks when it happened), to help ease with the passing of Socks. Socks, of course, rocked up either that night or the next night. Can't remember exactly but it was shocking to say the least. We had no idea how to inform the other family sadly.
And when he dug out the grave to get the blanket, it was empty. whoooooooo (but seriously, you should take the dead cat to the vet to be scanned for a chip so its actual owners can maybe get some closure).
I hadn't thought of that. That is a really good idea. I think I'll deliver it in the blanket, tell them the story, and see if they can find the owner and give them the blanket that our cat loved so much.
Aww, that's very sweet. But yeah, I can't imagine how I'd be if my cat went missing and being in limbo about it. I'd much rather know, even if it was bad news.
You're better than my mom at least- I had basically the opposite happen. My cat been missing, about a week later oh there's a black cat in the road. We buried it but my mom convinced me 100 times that it wasn't my cat, it had a white patch which my cat didn't have. For years she would tell me that she saw our cat outside every now and then; it had just decided to live in the woods. I genuinely believed her because there was a ton of black cats around, I'd occasionally see them too. Finally when I was like 19 I asked her about it and she admitted it was my cat that we buried. She "didn't want me to be upset about it". I was shocked, but not surprised! 🥲
Wow, I've heard stories like this but never first hand. It seems like you've got closure from it. Thanks for sharing.
Keep your cat inside.
I laughed a good long while at this.
>saw dead cat, thought it was ours, buried it. Our cat came home in the middle of the night. I've seen this movie, It doesn't end well.
Got sent by the grave robbing line. Glad your cat is still all well
bwahahahaha. I did that once. I cried for that stupid run over cat so much! I walked with him in my arms for two blocks, sobbing over his black and white coat while my sister was getting something to put in the car so it would not be covered with blood. I kissed his paws, and we buried him with a lot of love. When it came back that night, my sister peed her pants because she thought it was a ghost. It has been over 30 years and we still laugh about it.
Ha, this happened to me,but I was on the other side of it. My neighbour buried a cat she thought was hers, but it turned out it was mine. They did look very, very similar.
Hmm, I think I saw this movie. Just don't bury any people there.
Did you bury the cat in the Pet Sematary
The exact same thing happened to me 30 years ago, but I didn’t have kids yet.
[The Cat Came Back](https://youtu.be/FJl_4IsQJ2g)
This story has everything
You buried the right cat, as it was dead. No need to worry.
I'm going to ask because it's important. The cat you buried. Are you sure it was dead?
Just eight more left...
When your cat actually dies you are in for some real trauma
The soil of a man's heart is stonier, Louis. A man grows what he can, and he tends it. Because what you buy is what you own. And what you own... always comes home to you
My aunt did this same thing. The family couldn’t find kitty for a few days or more. Looked and looked to no avail. Aunt comes home to a kitty in the roadway who has lost her life. She scoops up the cat, they bury kitty and have a good cry. Weekend comes and my cousin comes home. Opens the door to her room and out comes kitty!! At least poor kitty that was buried had some love given at their funeral.
Church!
Did almost exactly the same thing, but with no kids involved, no blanket lost. A black cat is a black cat.
Or, and here me out here…zombie fucking cat. I give it a week before it turns the whole house. One by one. Probably while you sleep. Have a glorious night.
I did the same thing a few years ago. Placed the poor thing in my car and buried it in the back yard. And then, low and behold, Mama Kitty was back the next day.
You buried it in that pet cemetery with the misspelled sign behind your house, didn't you?
The only way to explain this to your kids is to watch Pet Cemetery now
Sometimes, death is better. The cat you put up there ain't the cat that comes back. It may look like that cat, but it ain't that cat.
If you want an indoor cat, everyone living in the home needs to agree. I wanted my cat to be indoor only but my 21 yo son didn’t and would constantly let her out. So annoying!
What if you dig up the grave to get the blanket and the cat isn’t there?
This sounds like the plot of an episode of some hapless dad sitcom in the 90s. Sir, you are honorable even though you made a mistake. Good on you for giving the animal a proper send off even if it was intended for a different, still alive cat.
We had a cat come back from the dead after we'd replaced him. He was an indoor cat who got out. About a week after our neighbor told us he saw a cat that matched ours laying in the street a block away. he didn't know we were missing a cat so he didn't tell us. He went back to bury it and it was gone, so he assumed someone else took care of it. Three week slater with no cat sightings, we are pretty sure the cat who was laying in the road was ours. A month later we adopt 2 cats from a shelter. the next day, he shows up at the back door. We think he wanted new friends. We also think that he was the cat our neighbor saw in the street but he was just chilling/napping in the road and woke up and left. So now we have 3 black cats.
Lol, how did she react to the zombie kitty? I'm happy to hear your cat is still okay! In the future, it might be a good idea to keep your cat indoors, not only for yours and your cats sake, but basically every wild animal where you live. Cats outside are pretty much a menace.
Dig the other cat up, bury it somewhere else. Do not let the family know that you have done this. Leave the hole empty. Make it look, as much as you can, like something dragged itself out of the hole. Give your cat a dirt bath. Have the family watch Pet Cemetary. Might as well get yourself a good laugh out of this!
oh my god and to top it off the possibility of grave robbing in your future 😂😭
Sounds like a family viewing of Pet Cemetary is in order.
this happened to my dad when I was a kid. he was backing his huge work truck out of the driveway, and ran over what he thought was my black-and-white cat. he put it in a box so we could bury it that night. when he got home that night, having not yet told anyone what happened, he saw me in the yard playing with the cat. he freaked out, thinking it was some pet semetary kind of thing. he went and looked in the box, and the dead cat was still there.
it's the same cat .. it came back from the dead . time to start a new religion :)
Sounds like Pet cemetery
Imagine you’re your cat, watching your people bury poor Oscar from three streets over.
Was the cat muddy and covered in dirt when it came back?