Hers or someone else's cat

Question

In the context of this statement one assumes Marie is caressing her own cat yet when put in the passive voice it could read as though the cat belongs to someone else...maybe not a great example

Accepted Answer

Bonjour all,
This question has been updated to avoid this ambiguity. 
Merci et bonne journée !

Answer

Bonjour Skylar,
I am in agreement with you on the voix passive form for this phrase.  It does not define precisely whose cat it is.  Perhaps something like:
Le chat de Marie or something similar since in the original locution, it clearly is Marie's cat that she is caressing.
However, I am uncertain exactly how to express that in French that Marie was caressing her own cat.  Perhaps Aurélie or Laura can help out here.

Answer

I had the same reaction as Skylar (using hos/her before mentioning the person to whom the thing belongs doesn’t really work in my opinion) and it feels awkward to respond that way even if you know that this is what is expected. This is also one of the situations where I always feel tempted to resort to Passe Simple (“fut caressé”) instead of “était caressé”). Would that be OK here?

Answer

I had the same same reaction as OP