Thomasina

Thomasina is the title character of Walt Disney's 1963 film The Three Lives of Thomasina, based on Paul Gallico's novel Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Was God. A handsome ginger cat, Thomasina belongs to young Mary MacDhui, the daughter of a stern Scottish village veterinarian, in a story set in the early twentieth century.

The tale turns on grief and reconciliation. When Thomasina falls ill and the hard-hearted vet has her put down, his devastated daughter stops speaking to him, and the loss drives a wedge through the family. But the cat — narrating parts of her own story — is not quite finished: rescued and nursed back to health by Lori, a gentle woman the villagers call a witch for her way with animals, Thomasina eventually finds her way home, helping to heal the broken bond between father and daughter.

Unusually for a Disney film, Thomasina tells much of the story from the cat's own point of view, complete with a feline vision of the afterlife. The result is a tender, slightly melancholy family film that has stayed in the memory of those who saw it as children — a reminder of how deeply a family cat can be woven into a household's happiness, and its sorrow.