The tale of Willy the one eyed stray cat, his adoption and heartbreaking return to his original family after being fostered, rescuer thought she’d found her soul cat: ‘I will miss him. All I could think is, if it were my cat, I would want him back.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jan 5, 2026 3:00 PM EST

Much in the same way that hooman babies use their similar looks to their fathers to ensure that the dads stick around after the birth. So do street cats use their cuteness and shining pawsonalities to lure us into caring for them and eventually bringing them into our homes and lives to live out the rest of their days as purrfect little babies. And that is exactly how this story got started. With one cat in pawticular taking the attention of our story's narrator.

For outside of her work there were several clever cattos using their fluffy fur to get fed and taken to the vet, but Willy the one eyed wonder, he is who our narrator fell in love with. And after having lost her own soul cat and not managing to bond with kittens her and her husband adopted, Willy offered the kind of love and connection she was looking for. But as these things often go, it was not meant to be and ironically it was this woman's delight and pride in having found Willy, that caused his real pawrent to find him too after being lost for several months. A bittersweet way for things to end for the story's narrator but such is life when you try to adopt a cat from the street. 

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  • 01
    "Hey, my friend lost her cat. He only has one eye. Could that be her cat?"
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  • 02
    This is Willy. IYKYK. I had been caring for the street cats at my work office. There
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  • 03
    were a total of 12. We got them all neutred/spaye d. Totally worth it. I loved all of them and if I
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    had the room I would have taken them all. I was able to get several of them adopted. Cali and her
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    kittens were first to go. Then, we took the sickest ones. Unfortunately, they were too far gone and
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    they didnt make it. Then we only had 4 left. Pup an orange and white, Mr. Morris
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  • Well, this is truly one impressive workplace. We cannot think of all too many workplaces that would be willing to allow time and space for a whole community of cats to be cared for, captured for spaying and then even allow time for the employees to find suitable homes for the cats. All we can say is that if they have a job going, we might know of more than a few people who would be interested in applying. 

  • 07
    orange, Maverick gray tuxedo, and Willy. I wouldn't see all of them every day. Just Willy. I
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  • 08
    would pull up amd he would meet me at the end of the driveway. October 2024, I lost my cat
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  • 09
    Nermal. He was my special boy. Willy reminded me of him. We had adopted 2 kittens a few
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    Cheezburger Image 10592518912
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    months after he passed. But I couldnt shake the desire to take Willy. He didnt have a chip, or a
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    collar. I tried. to put one on him and he wasn't having any of it. Naturally I thought he
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  • Cats, especially those in the streets, are just like fishing lures. Shiny, exciting, attention grabbing and enticing. You want nothing more than to put them in your mouth. Ok, well maybe not your mouth specifically but you want to bring them home. But as soon as you do so they have got you. For either you have fallen for them and would be willing to hand over your soul to please them, or worse still their original pawrents show up…

  • 13
    didnt have an owner. So, after much begging to my fiancé, I adopted Willy. I posted videos of him
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    Cheezburger Image 10592519680
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    on youtube of our journey together. He was helping heal my heart. Don't get me wrong. I love
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    the kittens. But, I wasnt chosen by either of them. I didnt have a bond to either of them. They
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    picked my fiancé and his mom as their people. And now I had Willy. I finally had a cat that chose me....
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  • 18
    Until one day....... My boss has seen some of my videos on youtube. And said "Hey, my
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  • 19
    friend lost her cat. He only has one eye. Could that be her cat?"
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    For some reason the post doesn't have the icon to edit. Anyways. This is the rest. She is a very sweet girl. She does have papers.
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    He was scheduled to get a chip. Then her husband (who imo, doesn't seem to like cats vm) was has been negligent in
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    keeping him inside "accidentally" let him out. Hence why she scheduled an appointment for him.(she also has kitten pictures of him and his surgery
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    for his eye) Around the same time, is when I started seeing him around feedings with the other cats. The time line aligns. She
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    Cheezburger Image 10592519168
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    searched the neighborhood for him for weeks. Everyday after work and on the weekends. About a 6 months after he went missing, her
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    husband's grandfather got ill, and they went to be with family until his passing. This is round the time I took him home. It was getting cold out. The other
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  • 27
    cats stopped showing up. Except for him and Pup.(my coworker took him home) After hearing her story and seeing the proof. It is all i needed. I will
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  • 28
    miss him. All I could think is, if it were my cat, I would want him back. I'd sell my truck to get Nermal back. So, I had to give him back with the promise she
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    would keep me updated about him.
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stray cats cat found soul cat adoption foster reddit story cat story cat rescue family heartbreaking return original
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