Poor Bart the cat was buried by his distraught owner after being hit by a car in Tampa, Florida.
Little did owner Ellis Hutson realise that Bart was going to perform a miraculous resurrection.
Hutson was devastated when she found Bart cold, stiff and in a pool of his own blood after being run down by a car a couple of weeks ago.
23-month-old Bart showed no sign of life and heartbroken Ellis enlisted the help of his neighbour, Dusty Albritton, to bury his beloved pet.
Five days later Ellis was shocked by what he found when he answered a knock on his door.
Amazingly, there stood Albritton with a very-much alive Bart.
The cat had somehow regained consciousness, clawed his way out of his grave and later showed up in Dusty’s yard looking for food.
Rescuers believe he may have dug his way out of the ground after just a few hours and because of shock may have wandered around for a few days.
“I opened the door and my neighbour's standing there with the cat in her hand," Hutson told ABC News.
“She said, 'Bart is not dead.' I said, 'That’s impossible. We buried Bart.'
“This is unbelievable. I don’t have any explanation for it,” Ellis added.
Hutson and Albritton rushed Bart to the Humane Society of Tampa for treatment after his ordeal.
The cat was treated for dead eye, broken jaw and facial wounds. Unfortunately Bart will lose his eye, but after successful surgery he will be able to return home to Ellis in about a week.
Hutson had planned to cover Bart’s medical costs, totalling about $2,000, by himself - but neighbour Dusty has set up a crowd funding page to help with the bills for the feline’s care.
The page has raised almost double Bart’s medical costs, so you can expect him to be a very pampered kitty from now on.
We are happy to hear Bart is expected to make a very good recovery, although he may have used up a lot of those nine lives on this one!
Hat tip: The Humane Society of Tampa.