A woman recovering from surgery and the trauma of several miscarriages has described the unique friendship she struck up with a mystery cat who appeared on her doorstep in her moment of distress.
Martha Keith didn’t think she was a cat, but that changed the day a big black cat with “golden eyes and the kindest face” walked into her life.
Pets can play an important role in our mental health and well-being. A 2019 study by Washington State University researchers found that petting a dog or cat for just 10 minutes can help reduce levels of cortisol, the so-called stress hormone.
While Martha Keith was recovering from surgery, an unknown cat began to visit her. It felt significant. Martha_Keith/TikTok
Keith dealt with a lot of stress as well as some significant personal trauma before meeting her mysterious feline visitor. She runs the personalized stationery brand Martha Brook, after leaving her corporate job 10 years ago to strike out on her own. What started as a business from her bedroom has grown into an award-winning global brand.
But Keith’s personal challenges went far beyond the world of business. As a teenager, she was diagnosed with endometriosis, a disease that causes tissue similar to the lining of the uterus to grow outside the uterus.
Endometriosis can lead to severe pain in the pelvis and make pregnancy difficult. By the summer of 2022, Keith had gone through multiple rounds of IVF and had four traumatic miscarriages.
To better understand what was going on in her body, she underwent a hysteroscopy, which involves inserting a narrow telescope into the uterus.
“It ended up being more intense than planned and it was a bit of a shock to the system,” Keith said Newsweek. The cat visited her during her recovery from surgery. What started as a chance encounter quickly became more regular.
“At first I thought it must be someone’s, even though it didn’t have a collar, so I brought it back out every night,” Keith said. “But like butter, the next morning he’d come through my window or meow loudly at my back door until I let him in!” A bond quickly developed between them.
“I know it sounds weird, but it felt like he just knew I needed company. I was working from home for a few weeks after the surgery, and he’d sit with his head on my knee, curled up against my feet, far away.”
It seemed to Keith that the cat was there to watch over her during this difficult time. “IVF and miscarriage are extremely difficult, and although on the surface I was holding myself together because I had to for my job, I wasn’t in a good place,” she explained.
“There was something incredibly comforting about his little purrs, his cuddles and how he seemed to almost ‘chat’ with me with his meows. I used to look forward to his arrival. It made me feel less lonely, less stressed and generally happier. “
Martha Keith said she last saw her cat friend at Easter. They enjoyed a day of cuddles and then he left. Martha_Keith/TikTok
The visits continued sporadically over the following months. Keith said she last saw her black cat friend at Easter this year. By then, her situation had improved significantly.
“I managed to get pregnant again after the last IVF attempt, and he came less and less,” she said. “It was Easter Sunday and he was curled up on my bed with me in the late afternoon sun. It was one of those really special moments that I won’t forget.”
That was the last time she saw her feline friend. In June, Keith welcomed what she described as her “miracle daughter” into the world. However, she still wondered what happened to the cat that helped her when she was on the lowest branches.
So she set out on a mission to find out. The resulting journey was captured in a video posted on Keith’s TikTok page, Martha_Keith. At the time of writing, it has been viewed nearly 700,000 times.
Going door to door on her street, she soon discovers the owners of her mysterious cat, an elderly couple who rescued him from an animal shelter and christened him “Squidge”.
“They said they always wondered where he was going, but he always seemed to know when someone needed him,” Keith said.
But Keith soon discovered that there would be no emotional reunion with Squidge. No more cuddles or pets with a feline friend who offered her unconditional love.
Martha Keith was saddened to hear what had happened to ‘Squidge’. She will never forget what he did for her. Martha_Keith/TikTok
“Unfortunately, a week after he last came to see me, he had to be put down because of lymphoma,” she said. “I was devastated, but deep down, strangely, I knew he was gone because he didn’t come back to see me.”
Keith said Squidge helped her realize that pets can provide real emotional support during difficult times, as her black cat friend did just that.
“Squidge came to me for a reason,” she said. “He was the emotional support I needed in really difficult times, and maybe he left when I didn’t need him anymore. A truly magical black cat.”
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Source: newstars.edu.vn