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Dead Cat is a passive item.

Effects[ | ]

Notes[ | ]

  • This item can drop from Super PrideSuper Pride.
  • Resurrection items activate in a set order. Dead Cat is (except in Repentance) 2nd / (in Repentance) 4th in this order after (in Repentance)Soul of LazarusSoul of Lazarus, Collectible 1up! icon1up!, and (in Repentance) Character Lazarus iconLazarus' inherent extra life.
  • (in Rebirth) Picking this item up as Character The Lost iconThe Lost does not show the number of lives remaining, but still functions normally.
  • (in Afterbirth † and Repentance) If picked up as Character The Forgotten iconThe Forgotten, his Bone Hearts are reduced to 1 but Character The Soul (Character) iconThe Soul's Soul Hearts remain unaffected; It is also true the other way.
  • The lives are added after the "picking up an item" animation has ended, so characters that die while the animation is playing will not be revived by this item.
  • (except in Repentance) The effects of the Collectible D4 iconD4, Collectible D100 iconD100, Collectible Missing No. iconMissing No., or a 1- or 6-pip Dice RoomDice Room will not remove the lives granted by this item.
  • Additional Dead Cats can be picked up during a run, increasing lives well past 9. (except in Repentance) Only the first dead cat counts toward becoming Guppy.
  • (in Afterbirth †) This item counts as 9 items, so if Isaac is trying for an early portal to (in Afterbirth † and Repentance)The VoidThe Void after beating Boss Mom ingameMom, this will significantly boost the progress closer to 20 items.
  • (in Repentance) If Character Jacob and Esau iconJacob and Esau take the item, only the brother who takes it will be set to one Red Heart Container on pickup. But if they die, both are resurrected with one Red Heart Container.
    • If both brothers take the item (via (except in Rebirth)Collectible Diplopia iconDiplopia or (in Repentance)Collectible Birthright iconBirthright), resurrections will be subtracted from Jacob before Esau, regardless of which brother actually died.
  • (in Repentance) Character Tainted Jacob iconTainted Jacob's health will still be reduced to 1 Red Heart Container if he takes this item after being touched by Dark EsauDark Esau or if he dies in his Lost form.
  • (in Repentance) Familiars that follow behind Isaac have a certain priority in how close their position is to him over other familiars, with Dead Cat having the lowest priority at 6th and thus being farther from Isaac than familiars of different priorities.
  • (in Repentance) During the Boss The Beast ingameThe Beast fight, Isaac is respawned on the spot upon death, as opposed to doing so in a previous room.
  • (in Repentance) Despite the life counter being shown during the Mother's ShadowMother's Shadow chase, the item is inactive like all other items and will not provide extra lives.
  • If all 9 lives are used, Dead Cat disappears from Isaac's inventory. If Isaac only has three Guppy items prior to losing Dead Cat, then its disappearance will cause the Guppy transformation to be lost.

Strategies[ | ]

  • In the context of a Devil RoomDevil Room:
    • Taking Dead Cat with 1 or 2 Heart Containers won't kill Isaac because it will set his number of Heart Containers to 1 immediately, saving him from the death that would have resulted from having no Heart Containers. Buying Dead Cat when at 1 Heart Container essentially obtains the item for free.
    • Other Devil Room items can be bought without the necessary number of Heart Containers at the cost of one of the many lives Dead Cat provides.
    • To take multiple Devil Deals, buy a Devil deal item then quickly leave the room before the "item get" animation finishes. This will result in Dead Cat reviving Isaac back inside the Devil Room.
  • (except in Rebirth) Taking Dead Cat as Character Keeper iconKeeper or (in Repentance) Character Tainted Keeper iconTainted Keeper will reduce their total number of Coin Hearts to one, meaning they will die upon taking any damage at all. Unless either of them have immediate access to an HP Up item, taking Dead Cat is usually detrimental.
  • (in Repentance) Holding onto a XIX - The Sun?XIX - The Sun? can be beneficial if at high HP. Using it prior to taking Dead Cat will convert all red heart containers to Bone HeartBone Hearts for the floor. The bone hearts do not disappear when taking Dead Cat and will all revert back to normal red-heart containers on the next floor (and stay filled if the bone hearts were filled).

Synergies[ | ]

  • (except in Rebirth)Collectible Diplopia iconDiplopia: Isaac gains 18 extra lives in total.
  • (except in Rebirth) Gold HeartGold Hearts: Gives Isaac many coins when picked up, due to the amount of hearts lost.

In-game Footage[ | ]

Unlockable Achievements[ | ]

Gallery[ | ]

Trivia[ | ]

  • The 9 lives gained by the item is a reference to a myth that cats have 9 lives.
  • The item Collectible Guppy's Tail iconGuppy's Tail and the transformation GuppyGuppy implies that Guppy has a white fur on it's tip of the tail while the sprite for Dead Cat does not.
  • The Dead Cat shares the same tuxedo type bicolor fur with Guppy.
    • Despite not having Guppy in its name, this item counts for the Guppy transformation which may imply that Dead Cat is Guppy, or at least was what Guppy looked like at some point.

Bugs[ | ]

Bug Bug! (in Repentance) If picked up as Character ??? (Character) icon???, Character Dark Judas iconDark Judas, Character Tainted Judas iconTainted Judas, Character Tainted ??? iconTainted ???, Character Tainted Forgotten iconTainted Forgotten, or Character Tainted Bethany iconTainted Bethany while in possession of Bone HeartBone Hearts, the health bar may become glitched. The actual health amount is correctly set to 1 Soul HeartSoul Heart/ Black HeartBlack Heart + all Bone Hearts, but some of the Bone Hearts are incorrectly displayed as half Soul Hearts depending on the situation before picking up Dead Cat. This can mess with the order of Soul Hearts and Bone Hearts after taking damage or gaining health. The glitch will resolve itself after taking damage, picking up health or touching an item.


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