Paddy led a secret life at the memorial park

Paddy’s family had no idea their cat had basically given himself a full-time job working as a comfort pet to mourners – until they thought he’d gone missing.

After putting up posters, they discovered Paddy heads out every day and spends his time attending funerals at the memorial park nearby or just keeping visitors company as they think about their loved ones.

Then at 6pm each night, he heads home for dinner and curls up to get some rest.

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‘We say Paddy is off to work because it really is like he has a job.’ his mom says. ‘He’s such a gentle cat and he’s helped so many people over the years. It’s really lovely.’

They adopted Paddy 10 and a half years ago when they heard about some kittens at a local farm that needed rescuing.

‘We chose two cats – one who we called Max, and the runt of the litter, who we called Paddy,’ his mom says.

Sadly, Max went missing after about a year and the family went on to move to their current house, close to the memorial park, where they adopted three more cats.

Four years ago, they noticed Paddy hadn’t come home and after three nights, began to get worried. They put up posters and tried knocking on doors to find him.

On the fifth day, they discovered Paddy had actually been leading a bit of a secret life for years. Paddy roams the garden looking for anyone who might need some comfort.

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Paddy’s mom says: ‘A gentleman from the memorial garden called me and said “I think we have your cat. He actually comes here quite a lot.” I was just on my way to work so I stopped at the garden and called is name and he ran straight towards me.’

Staff told his mom that Paddy had been coming to the park every day for years, sitting in on meetings, patrolling the funeral room and comforting people who visit.

A few years later, someone working at the funeral centre posted on Facebook trying to get in touch with Paddy’s owners because he had touched so many lives and they wanted to write something about him.

‘It was then I started hearing all the stories about what he’s been doing. He turns up at the moment where relatives seem to need it. He walks in with funeral processions. When he’s not helping, he makes himself comfortable in their office and they will feed him.

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‘It really opened my eyes about how popular he is and how many people know him,’ his mom says.

Most days, Paddy does the five minute walk home from his job himself but sometimes gets caught up in keeping others company, so if he’s not back by 8pm, his mom will go down to the park to bring him home.

Credits: Photos by Fabio De Paola

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