Do cats really have 9 Lives?

Our sweet cat Lizzy went missing two weeks ago. We think she was sleeping inside a friends trailer full of furniture when they pulled it out of our barn, and drove away. We searched, we prayed, we visited the animal control officer. No luck. I told the boys (and myself) that it could take her a few weeks to find her way home since our friends moved into a house about 5 miles away. Early today, Sunday, after Church, K8 asked if he and a friend could walk home (5 miles!) because it was a sunny day and he was tired of waiting on Mom and Dad who were chatting with friends. I said Yes. Mom soon followed and picked them up about a mile away. They hadn't progressed any further because they found a familiar looking grey cat dead on the side of the road. They took her home.

By the time I got home, the boys had dug a grave on the pond bank next to the graves of other beloved pets. Sure enough it certainly looked just like Lizzy, and she had only been dead a few hours because rigormortis had not set in. We said a prayer and buried her. It was unbelievably sad to realize that she had been trying to return home alone for two weeks, and we just missed rescuing her.






Some friends came over to visit and we were cheerfully distracted from our depression. They left about 9:40 P.M. Katie and Danny returned home about 10:05 and as they came in said, "There is a kitty meowing in the chicken paddock and it looks like Lizzy!" WHAT? Did she crawl out of her grave? I rushed outside and the cat came running to me - it was Lizzy! Unbelievable! I carried her into the house and we fed her roast lamb. She cleaned her plate in seconds. I took her out to the barn and she hopped onto the work bench and proceeded to eat dry food non-stop. She was starving for food, and I couldn't stop petting her. I went over and checked the grave. It was untouched, so we gave some one's poor cat a decent burial. I'm just happy my cat is home.

Do cats have 9 Lives? Obviously the answer is yes. And miracles do happen.  What a wonderful ending to our fairy-tale story.