Trail camera captures images of a passed away cat

Antonio65

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
6,054
Purraise
9,677
Location
Orbassano - Italy
Many of you know that I take care of a colony of several feral cats. Most cats are females, all of them have been spayed. A few cats are males, a good part of them have been neutered.
One of these tom cats have been roaming around since he was born. He would stay away for a few days, then he was back, and so on. His distinctive trait, apart from being a ginger cat, was his floppy left ear, evidence of his tormented life.

A little background. On a few occasions I would find the dishes messed around in the morning, something that cats don't do, so I thought another animal was visiting the dishes at night.
On April 8th, Thursday, I set up a trail camera to try to catch the culprit. I set it up at 6 pm.

On April 9th, Friday, early in the morning, I was told that someone had spotted a dead cat not far from the place of the dishes. They told me the cat had been seen there for a few days, so I went and check it out. I found a ginger cat, dead, and judging by his body conditions, he had been there for at least 3 days. Most likely he had been run over and then moved to the side of the alley.
I called the local service for the dead animals collection, the man arrived promptly, checked the body and told me that in his opinion the poor cat had been there for something between 3 days and a week, so the cat had been killed around Easter.

In my colony there was only one ginger cat. So I had no doubt that the dead cat was him.
Once that I sorted this matter out, I remembered I had set my trail camera the night before, so I retrieved the camera and watched the images and videos.
To my huge surprise, one of the images captured shortly before the sunset of April 8th was of a ginger cat. He wasn't a ginger cat, he was THE ginger cat!
How was it possible to have an image and a short footage of a cat who had been dead for a few days?
The first explanation that came to my mind was that the ginger cat died shortly after the image was captured, but I had been told the cat had been there for a few days, and the conditions of that body confirmed that info.

Even creepier, I set up the trail camera again on April 9th, and I caught his image again.
On both occasions, the ginger cat was visiting the dishes, and no doubt at all he was THE ginger cat. His floppy ear was a clear clue.

I never saw the ginger cat of my colony since, neither on footage nor with my eyes. So he died for sure. So, who was the cat captured by my trail camera?
Can a passed away cat come back to his familiar place for a last visit after his death?

BTW, the animal who was fiddling with the cats' dishes was a fox.
 

di and bob

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
16,582
Purraise
22,961
Location
Nebraska, USA
I'm glad it was a fox, they get along with cats.....As for the cat coming back, who knows for sure? The spirit, the 'essence', of that cat may have been so strongly connected to that spot he returned for a short while to all he loved. There will be many who scoff, but I know that in this world there are so many things that cannot be explained away, they will forever be mysteries. The spirit can be strong, and it is as untouchable as the wind. You feel it is there, but you cannot see, it, hold it, just what moves in it's path. His spirit may have held on long enough to be seen, to remind us that there are many things in this wonderful world that are beyond our understanding. May God bless his little soul......
 

CindyH66

Peanuts Mom
Adult Cat
Joined
Jul 31, 2021
Messages
255
Purraise
489
anything is possible ! The same God who made us , made them. He loves the animals ,so who are we to say that cant happen ? I have seen cats give love, comfort , dream , protect loved family members .. there is so much more to them than eat ,sleep and go potty. If part of US goes on after this life, why not them ? I believe it can.. I loved your story ! thank you for sharing it !
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

Antonio65

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
6,054
Purraise
9,677
Location
Orbassano - Italy
Hi CindyH66 CindyH66 , thanks for you message. Yes, I'm sure he made a few last visits to the place he loved. I have never seen that ginger cat again, so I'm sure only one ginger cat was in the area, and he's gone.
 
Top