The Cat Came Back

A little black cat has been visiting me. Sometimes I find him asleep on my back porch in the mornings. I put a blanket and a box out for him just in case he gets cold.

He belongs to a lady in the next street. Her house backs on to the same lane as mine does. I have taken her cat, Bertie, home several times, but he is a happy wanderer and keeps coming back.

I wonder why Bertie has chosen our house to visit. It’s not that I mind, it just intrigues me because the thing is Bertie looks exactly like my old cat, Olive. Exactly.

He also behaves like she did. The way he moves his ears or flicks his tail. The way he jumps through the grass. His eyes, his whiskers, the obsidian sheen of his coat. They are all like Olive. Of course, many of the things Bertie does are characteristic of cats the world over, but there is one thing that has made me internally gasp a little –  Bertie doesn’t chase the birds that come to the garden.

I thought that’s why he had come at first – to chase the birds – but he doesn’t chase them. Olive didn’t, either.

Bertie just sits on the porch, usually on the chair with the comfiest cushions, and purrs. Just like Olive used to.

Now I’m not all kinds of crazy here. I’ve seen black cats before and while I’ve liked them I have never had that sense of familiarity I have encountered with Bertie. The sense of I know you, don’t I?

So here’s my question? Can cats come back? In a reincarnation sense.

Cats are mystical creatures. They are prominent figures in mythology and superstition. We all know how much the Ancient Egyptians revered them and we’ve all heard about the black ones in particular being the preferred familiar of a witch.

I have always thought cats were half-in and half-out of this world, able to exist in two planes at once. They certainly know things we don’t.

It makes me wonder if it’s possible that Bertie is actually Olive.

To my surprise, many people have experienced the same thing.

Here.

and here

and more here

Olive has been dead for ten years. I think of her occasionally and I miss her but I don’t obsess over finding another cat exactly like her. I don’t think I am indulging in a bit of wishful thinking. After all, it was Bertie who found me, not the other way round. And he is someone else’s cat. So am I a barmy cat lady? Or is there more to all this than meets the eye?

What do you think? Can cats come back again? Or am I just reading too much into the friendliness of a neighbour’s cat?