Pet owner stunned after ‘dead’ cat reappears at her window

A WOMAN who buried what she believed to be her dead cat says she almost had a heart attack when the puss later appeared at her kitchen window.

Gemma Hamilton Carlin from Strabane said she was initially grief-stricken and inconsolable when she was told that her beloved pet, Lumi had been found dead by the roadside last week, after a suspected road traffic collision.

Traumatised and saddened, Gemma and her husband, Chris then buried the tabby in her garden. However, they would only learn following the impromptu funeral that the deceased hadn’t been their cat at all and it was a case of mistaken identity.

“It was my son Tom’s girlfriend who had been driving when she saw the black and white cat lying dead at the edge of our hedge,” Gemma explained. “She contacted my husband Chris who afterwards came in and said, ‘Lumi has been knocked down and killed.’

“Well, I just broke down. Then I thought, ‘How are we going to tell the boys?’

She added, “We just went ahead and buried her and that was the last of that.”

“Fortunately and unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of that… and Gemma was in for a shock.

“Later that day I was in bits and I was really crying hard,” she continued.

“I was traumatised and feeling really guilty because I had meant to let her in the night before but I forgot. That was why I was feeling so guilty.

“Next thing, there she is at the kitchen window crying to get in – I nearly fainted. I thought, ‘Sweet Jesus.’ I nearly had a heart attack.

Gemma admits that her relief was palpable at finding Lumi alive, although she made sure to check her paws for clay before letting her into the house.

“And then I thought, ‘Who in the name of God is buried in the garden?’” Gemma remarked.

“I contacted Chris to tell him, ‘You’ll never guess what!’ But then I had to ask how he didn’t recognise it wasn’t her. He said that the cat had been quite damaged and he didn’t want to tell me.

“So at this stage, I don’t know who we have buried in the garden. I asked on Facebook if anyone is missing a black and white cat to get in touch.

“But I know one thing: If the need ever arises and Chris has to identify me when I’m dead, he better not!”