May 17 (UPI) -- A Michigan family whose home was destroyed in a fire said their dog found their cat alive under the floor of the wreckage two months after the blaze.

Christine Marr said her family thought their cat, Ringer, had died in the March fire at their home near South Haven.


Marr said her dog, Chloe, also nearly perished in the fire, but was resuscitated by firefighters using an improvised oxygen mask.

She said Chloe started acting strangely when they went to visit the wreckage of the home Sunday.

"She was digging and scratching at the floor and sniffing found a hole in the floor within the wall. Heard a cat meowing so we got food to coax it out. And out came Ringer our cat that we thought perished in the fire," Marr said in a Facebook post.

"This cat's a miracle," Marr told WXMI-TV. "This cat has been in this area for two months with no food or water. And Chloe just found him down in this hole."

Firefighters said they searched the house thoroughly after the fire in hopes of locating Ringer.

"Looking for that cat, we picked up furniture, looked around beds, looked in every nook and cranny for that cat," Chief Ronald Wise of the South Haven Area Emergency Services said. "To know that Chloe had found the cat, that's amazing. She's a true hero, she is. To get that cat, you wouldn't think the cat would live that much longer."

Marr took Ringer to the Animal Hospital in Kalamazoo, where she said vets agreed his survival was "a miracle." She said Ringer was "very skinny but doing well."

"We're assuming he was eating bugs and spiders and stuff under there," Marr said. "I think he used a bit more than just nine lives."