A heartbroken family cremated what they thought was their beloved cat – only for the pet to ‘come back from the dead’ and turn up on their doorstep hours later.
The family-of-four’s 14-year-old moggy has been missing overnight so when Freddy and Sinead O’Cleirigh found a black cat dead in the road outside their home with an identical patch of white fur on its chest, they assumed it was Simba.
The tearful pair took the cat to the vet where they had an emotional ceremony and purchased a headstone to remember her by.
After consoling their devastated sons, Connell, 17, and Stiofan, five, at home, the real Simba miraculously reappeared.
Sinead, 40, from Lagmore, Belfast, said: “I’m just so embarrassed. It was a crazy day.
“We got her a headstone and everything.
“Simba hadn’t come back all night and my husband got up early to go to the gym when he saw a dead cat that had been hit by a car.
“We were crying and my sons were devastated.”
Sinead and Freddy, 37, took the cat to the vet where they paid £60 for cremation and £25 for a headstone.
Sinead said: “We’ve had her all of her life so we thought she deserves a proper send-off because she’s such a big part of the family.
“We got her for Connell’s third birthday so he’s never known life without her.
“We were all devastated including my extended family.”
She added: “We were trying to cheer the boys up with pizza then my son went to walk his girlfriend to the car and he saw a little cat come wandering down the drive.
“Everyone was screaming that Simba had come back from the dead and we were all so happy and celebrating.
“We explained to my youngest about the rainbow bridge and how that’s where cats and dogs go when they die so that’s completely ruined his illusion and now he thinks all our dead pets are coming back.”
Sinead managed to trace the mystery cat’s owner on Facebook and returned the ashes to them.
The blunder has made the family famous in their town and Sinead has been receiving messages from as far as America.
She said: “I posted what I’d done on social media and when Freddy went to work the next day, people were meowing at him and my phone was blowing up.
“When I went into work, everyone knew about it.
“People from Florida have been messaging me, everyone has seen it and I was all over everyone’s news feeds.”
