'I didn't think we'd get 3 months together, but here we are a year later': Cat lover picks the crustiest, oldest cat in the shelter, giving a 16-year-old rescue a new zest for life

Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor

Sep 17, 2025 6:00 AM EDT

Shelters go through an insane number of kittens every year, with kitties flying off the shelves and leaving nothing but milk bottles and shredded feather dusters in their wake. However, some shelter cats don't get selected by prospective families, and those are the seniors. Old, crusty, and forgotten, senior cats rarely get a second glance from the perusers at the animal shelter.

But this old crusty cat, a 16-year-old orange cat named Nuji, must have tugged on the heartstrings of a particularly empathetic rescuer. Although her friends were telling her to get a kitten and help them enter a world full of love, she decided instead to give an old guy a second chance at a beautiful life, turning this senior cat's life expectancy from 3 months to infinity. Turns out, love goes a long way when an elderly cat realizes they've got a chance to touch grass and wander in the public park, living the life they always dreamed of from behind the bars of the rescue cage.

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