Bart The Cat Returns From Dead Five Days Later

TAMPA, Fla. — If cats have nine lives, Bart the black and white feline from Tampa, Florida, has certainly used up one.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that when 1 ½-year-old Bart was hit by a car earlier this month, owner Ellis Hutson was so distraught he couldn’t stand the thought of burying the cat. So he asked neighbor Dusty Albritton to dig a shallow grave.

But five days later, on Jan. 21, a matted and injured Bart emerged, meowing for food.

Hutson got in touch with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, which through the Save-A-Pet Medical Fund will help cover costs of surgery to remove an eye, wire his jaw shut and insert a feeding tube.

Bart should recover in about six weeks and he’ll go home with Hutson.

Miracle cat Bart, who dug way out of grave, recuperating but feeling low. Fellow feline giving blood @HumaneTampaBay pic.twitter.com/2wC6MRZHJk

— Melanie Michael (@WFLAMelanie) January 28, 2015