MEDWAY – Throughout his long and adventurous life, Peter Misiura Sr. was regarded as a good and gregarious man, often kind to strangers, an avid hunter and fisherman who loved animals and plants and the outdoors.

Except cats.

He just hated them.

Now, some people dislike cats just as a personal preference, and he may have been one of those people.

His son and daughter-in-law think Misiura’s distaste was augmented by his love of gardening. Cats may be the mortal enemies of some gardeners, and neighborhood cats had an uncanny knack for digging up and otherwise destroying Misiura’s garden, infuriating him.

Then along came Tippy. He changed everything.

Annette Misiura got the tuxedo kitten – so named for his stylish black and white coat – in the early 1990s, and through the years, the feline slowly wore away her husband’s disdain.

His appearance helped. Fed a steady diet of tuna with oil, Tippy bloomed into the Jackie Gleason of cats. Enormously overweight but impossibly light and sure on his feet, Tippy loved chasing the string tied to the end of a stick that Misiura dangled in front of him.

And Tippy was a respectful companion. He liked his solitary time and kept a tasteful distance. He watched birds in the bird feeder, but, an indoor cat, he left them alone. He slept at the foot of Misiura’s bed and waited outside patiently when Misiura was doing something else.

By the time Annette died in February, Tippy was running to the window at the sound of a passing car, hoping it might be his master, and Misiura was just as happy to see his favorite companion whenever he came through the door.

“The cat filled the breach between loneliness and his coming to make his daily visit to my body shop,” Peter Misiura Jr. said Monday. “He was lonely, and the cat was his company.”

“It was amazing how much he had changed into a cat lover because of that cat,” said the younger Misiura’s wife, Brenda.

Peter Misiura Sr. died last week after getting lost in the woods while mushroom hunting near Interstate 95 and Route 11, and his death, at age 84, leaves his survivors with a wrenching problem: What do they do with Tippy?

“Unless we can find someone to take him in, I am going to bring him to the humane society in Bangor,” Misiura said.

Almost all of the surviving Misiuras are animal lovers who already have too many cats, Misiura said.

Peter and Brenda have four. Peter III has two. His sister Haley has one. Her brother, Mark Misiura, can’t take in a cat because his landlord won’t let him. Brenda’s sister Lynette has six cats.

The Misiuras ask anyone interested in adopting the cat to call 746-5128.

Despite being about 11 years old, the cat is in good health. He still likes to play, eats only dry food and is housebroken, though the Misiuras worry he won’t accept being around small children and pets. He is declawed, so no threat to furniture, the Misiuras say.

“He enjoys the company of elderly people because that is who he has lived with,” Peter Misiura said.

“I cried about it yesterday,” Brenda Misiura said. “This is so hard. But we think there must be someone out there who could use a sweet cat like Tippy.”