Ghost Cat

We have a ghost cat. I've suspected this for years but Mom's visit confirmed it.

I did not tell Mom we have a ghost cat because she startles at the sound of a faucet dripping so why invite trouble? Plus, it really never occurred to me. My ghost cat(s) show up at irregular intervals and it had been awhile since I'd felt them.

After Mom's first night here she got up and said, "I had the strangest dream. Both your cats were sleeping on me--one on my arm by my head and the other on my stomach. They were so heavy and I kept trying to move but I couldn't. It was like I was trapped under them."

"Are you sure it felt like cats on top of you?" I asked.

"Oh yes," she answered. "I thought it was your cats except I know they never come near people."

True. Our cats do not take kindly to anyone outside my husband and myself.

I would have thought it was just a dream except I've had the same experience. I have felt a cat leap onto my bed at night. You know how you feel the mattress shake and compress a bit as your cat walks on it? I felt that. It's been so real that I've sat up in bed and leaned down to pet whichever cat of mine was on the bed, only to find no one there.

I've woken up in the night to feel a cat sleeping across my legs. I try to roll over slowly so as not to wake my cat and I can feel the weight of the cat shift on my legs as I turn. Then I'll lean down to pet kitty fur and again--nothing there.

I've never actually seen a ghost cat. But I am constantly catching glimpses of what I think are our cats rounding a corner or racing out of the room, only to walk upstairs and discover both cats zonked out on the windowseat, sound asleep.

One more thing. At night, our kitten Olivia sleeps on an ottoman in our room until we turn out the light. For the past 2 nights she's climbed on the ottoman, sniffed a bit, and then something startles her enough that she leaps into the air, her four legs dangling down as she goes straight up. What scares her? There's no bugs, nothing unusual.

Except perhaps a ghost cat curled up asleep.