I have two cats: Fred and Stumpy. Fred is a rescue I got when he 
was only 12 weeks old. He’s the one who thinks he’s a dog because he was, essentially, raised by my dog, Beau.
But this article isn’t about Fred, it’s about Stumpy. Don’t laugh, but if there’s such a thing as a “spirit guide,” Stumpy is it.
Stumpy walked up to my back door one summer in 2003. At that time, I had no intention of bringing in another animal (I already had two), but I immediately saw that Stumpy was different. First of all, he had a “stumpy” tail. If he didn’t have short ears (like a cat), I would have sworn he was a rabbit. He has a little round body, round face with a cute little stumpy tail.
He’s the sweetest cat I ever had. He purrs constantly…always on my lap or on my bed at night. He’s never far from me. Whereas Fred likes his privacy, Stumpy is just the opposite. He wants to be near.
The night my mother passed away appeared to be like any other night. Although the nursing home informed me that my mom would probably live another 3 or 4 days, something inside me told me otherwise.
That night, I went to bed at around 10:00 pm or so. I remember lying there with my eyes wide open. I couldn’t sleep at all.
It was weird because the room felt alive even though no one else was in the room but me. Suddenly, Stumpy jumped on the bed and crawled on top of my chest. He then wrapped both his front paws around my neck and stared at me with his big green eyes. He just stared without blinking.
I knew then that Stumpy wasn’t really Stumpy. He became someone or something else. I chuckled and asked, “What’s going on, Stumpy?” He didn’t move and just stared. It then occurred to me that he was trying to tell me that my mother had just passed.
Suddenly, the phone rang. I knew, instinctively, it was the nursing home calling about my mom. I answered and the nurse introduced herself then said, “I’m sorry but your mother just passed a couple of minutes ago.” Calmly I replied, “I know.”
Since then, I’ve noticed various subtle things about Stumpy that sets him apart from other cats. Although he’s neutral about dogs, he became quite affectionate towards Beau before he passed away. In fact, I knew that Beau was close to death when I saw Stumpy’s behavior change towards him. It was as if he was consoling Beau…putting him at ease.
Later when I got Skye, I was fearful that Skye’s aggressive behavior, size and weight might possibly put my cats’ lives at risk. I did a pretty good job training Skye, but he can still get pretty excitable.
Fred seems to like it. He teases Skye a lot, ending up with the two of them chasing each other. It’s their play time. However, when Skye attempts to duplicate his play time by attempting to chase Stumpy, Stumpy will simply sit there and look at Skye with a calming expression. This will stop Skye dead in his tracks resulting in Skye walking away calmly.
Yes, Stump is a pretty special cat. I hope he’s stays with me a few more years to come. There’s a quiet wisdom about him that calms and soothes me. I love him dearly.
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