fish out of water?

Question
 Okay, the weirdest thing happend tonight and I'm trying to find out whether it was a bonafide miarcle, or rather just a fact of life.  
 A friend entrusted my roommate with the care of her beta fish.  She left for the day, unknowlingly locking my cat in her bedroom.  When I came home several hours later, the cat had turned over the small container he was in, and the fish was no where to be found.  After a few more hours, I let the cat back into the room, hoping that if there were any pieces left of the fish, the cat would produce them, so the fish wouldn't be left in her room to decay.  And the cat brought out the whole fish.  We put him in the  toilet for the flush goodbye, and all of a sudden he started swimming again!  We figured around 4-6 hours had ellapsed since the cat got to him.  Is this possible!?!?  He's sustaining major wounds, but right now he's still alive.  
 I'm wondering one) is this at all possible?  how can a tiny fish survive a cat, sit out of water for hours, and live to tell the tale and
two) is there anything we can do for him?  we've been circulating the water every few minutes to keep him swimming.  

Thank You greatly for all of your help!

Answer
Hi Marcy;

Wow, that's a long time! I guess 'cat spit' kept him moist enough to survive. Bettas have an organ called a labyrinth. They suck a bit of air and store it in there to use. This means they can close their gills and not use them so they stay more moist if out of water. They can often survive longer than other types of fish that don't have this organ.

I hope he is still doing okay. Keep his water clean and use 1/2 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon in his water to fight infection. Melafix or BettaMax are good to use with the salt too.

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

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