It was Thanksgiving Day,
and all the kids were outside playing,
and, "There's a dead cat over here."
- God. - Is it alive? - I don't know.
I don't know.
- He's a goner?
- No, he's alive. - He's alive!
- Oh! - Dad, can we keep it?
- That cat was like, dead in the snow.
His eyes were frozen open.
And I just started to do these gentle chest compressions.
Truth be told, I didn't even know if I was doing it right.
All the kids were gathered around.
My Dad was like, "The cat's dead."
He's like, "Just stop, guys, he's dead."
And over time, people started to file out of the room.
After about an hour and a half of pumping his chest,
he just takes this gentle inhale [breath].
So I yell at everybody to come back.
- And to our amazement,
they've got him wrapped up in a little towel.
and he's alive.
He's as timid and terrified as you could possibly imagine,
but he's alive. Barely alive.
Like, so limp, so weak,
so frail.
- So we stuck him in a bathtub.
We fed him and we gave him some water.
And slowly but surely his pupils started to go back to normal.
And then he just became this full, alive little -- little cat.
The vacation kind of soon ended,
and we decided who was gonna take the cat home.
And I have two cats. [Chuckle]
It was apparent that the home needed
to probably be with Branden and his family.
- I want to bring it home. - Buddy.
Oh my gosh, those eyes.
We talked about it, and we're just like,
"Let's bring him home. Let's just bring him home."
- That's right, get the cat box. Where's the cat box?
- It's right next to him.
- Hi, baby! - Look look look.
- Hi. - Oh my goodness.
- Hi. - Oh.
It was a bit of a drive home, so I just held him the whole time
and he just purred instantly.
- Welcome home, buddy. - Can you hear him purring?
- You're gonna come home with us.
We're home.
Are you ready to go inside? Okay.
First night in your new home, okay?
Goodnight, buddy.
He just wasn't really comfortable being around people
and loud noises and a lot of kids.
- We had to earn his trust.
Each day that went on, he would, like,
venture out into a new area.
Lazarus was a stray cat.
He didn't really have a home.
So when we brought him in, our family
had to learn how to bring in a cat,
and how to adapt him to a family, family life.
Soon he'd jump up on the kids laps
and you go, "Okay. He's safe with the kids.
He feels safe."
Sit with them for lunch. "Okay, he feels comfortable."
But it was baby steps for him.
It was like each new thing he did
was letting us know he feels comfortable with us.
- He got less nervous, 'cause
he got to know the family a little more.
- Ryler is the one who stumbled upon him.
If I ever can't find the cat, he's in Ryler's room.
As far as Krew, he doesn't really get down and play
with Lazarus as much as the other kids do.
But he loves him. Brexsen, Lazarus tends to run
a little bit more from him.
- Hazy, because she was a newborn,
I think there was always that trust there.
He would lick her head.
She would just sit there and love it.
- One morning I found him, you know, peeking up in her crib,
looking over the side.
They've always had a special bond,
because they've grown up together.
Ever since she's been here, he's been here.
- Two little babies that were, like, tiny at the same time,
Hazy's the baby. But, like, he's the baby, too.
- One's just furry. - Yeah. And the other one's Laz.
[Laughter]
Those two have always just grown up together.
- And as she's gotten older and he's gotten older,
she loves to play with him.
- The cat.
I love our cat.
- She loves cats.
- We're neighbors. So I would check in,
see how the cat was doing. And to see it
kind of progress was pretty cool.
He's got a personality that matches the Bingham family.
- He's very curious.
- Hi, kitty.
Very interested in anything you're doing.
- Lazarus' determination still continues to this day.
He's determined to be a solid member of this family.
♫
Aw, look at that. He's just hugging the crap out of Justin.
Oh, yeah, dude. He knows.
- Oh! - Oh! He ate it.
- You've gotten big, buddy.
- He could fit in the palm of your hand. He did!
This little, lifeless kitten in the snow,
that really had every reason to give up.
But instead, decided to fight for another chance.
- To come over and see him just be part of the family,
it's just pretty cool.
- Lazarus has shown us
that there are bigger things in life.
People, and relationships, and animals,
and the love and bond that you can feel,
it's unlike anything I've ever seen.
♫