A mortified father spent £180 cremating his family’s ‘beloved family pet’ only to discover it was someone else’s cat entirely.
In a scene that could taken straight out of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, Michael Deegan was taken on ‘an emotional rollercoaster’ when his dead feline supposedly reemerged from the dead.
The 42-year-old rushed to an industrial estate where he had been told his missing nine-year-old cat Marshall may have been run down by a car.
Grief-stricken father-of-two Mr Deegan said the ginger stripes as well as the cat’s white foot convinced him that the deceased animal was his, so he brought it home to break the heart-wrenching news to his daughter Eliza, 12.
But four days after ‘Marshall’ was cremated, the new owner of the family’s previous home called Michael to tell him that he believed their pet had re-emerged in the area.
Michael was adamant the cat could in no way be his – but in an unlikely twist of fate his missing feline stormed towards him after he arrived at his former home.
The IT worker admits he felt more embarrassed than emotional but his daughter was so relieved when she returned home from school to find her cat alive and well.
The 12-year-old has since named the pet ‘Jesus cat’ due to its miracle-like return while Michael was mocked for the blunder.
His his father-in-law joked the episode would make a great advert for Specsavers, which often makes jokes about people with poor eyesight.
Michael, from Corby, Northamptonshire, said: ‘I’ll never be able to live it down but looking back it’s funny and it’s a relief that our cat is alive.
‘My father-in-law thinks it should be a Specsavers advert and it’s a bit of a joke at the minute.
‘When someone messaged to say they think our cat’s been in an accident it was upsetting and we knew our daughter would be heartbroken.
‘I got out of bed to have a look and the cat had similar markings to ours but it wasn’t the easiest to look at so we assumed it was our cat.
‘Her black and ginger stripes looked the same and her foot is a completely different colour to the rest of her. I still can’t see the difference,’ he added.
‘We told our daughter three days later and she was devastated.
‘After Marshall had been picked up for cremation we got a message from the people who had moved into our old house saying they think she’s just walked in.
‘I was adamant it wasn’t her because I’d seen her dead but then when I went around, there she was,’ he quipped.
‘It was a bit of a shock because she came running over like nothing had happened but I wasn’t emotional because it was more funny and embarrassing.
‘We told Eliza when she came home from school and she was relieved. Marshall is her first pet so she was over the moon.’
The family have been keeping an eye out for any missing a cat who looks like Marshall and have kept the unknown cat’s ashes just in case.
‘We’ve got the other cat’s ashes in a bag in the house and we don’t really know what to do with them,’ he added.
‘We’ve been checking to see if anyone reports a cat missing, but there’s been nothing yet so we’re wondering if it was a stray.’
Michael says the pair had kept Marshall and their other cat Poppy, seven, inside for almost two weeks so they acclimated to their new home, but it didn’t work.
The relieved family kept Marshall inside for another two weeks after her return and now she’s used to it.
His wife Sarah, 44, posted about the ’emotional rollercoaster’ experience on TikTok and it has since been viewed more than 450,000 times.
Flocking to the comments of the TikTok video, one user wrote: ‘Reading this was an emotional roller-coaster.’
A second said: ‘Your kind act was rewarded in the best way possible. What you did for that fur baby was the kindest thing I’ve ever heard. Even if you don’t find her owner, she will be forever yours.’
A third said: ‘This made me feel a myriad of emotions. At least you gave a random cat a respectful and decent ending.’