is she a cat?? or is it a metaphor

It seemed like a metaphor

It seemed like a metaphor, but if she was originally a cat I would make sense as to how Ophelia's family found a doppelganger of Ophelia as if they just decided to bring the spare twin they had in the country side just waiting for Ophelia to die. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a cat and Ophelia's father had her turned into a human to in a misguided attempt to help his wife. It would also make sense as to why Ophelia's father was distant with the fake

Yuuuuuup!

No she isn't it just a metaphor for her as " A stray scared cat picked up for who knows what experiment"