From a 10-year-old child to a 31-year-old adult, one person shares the beautiful reality of growing up alongside their cat soulmate: 'My 21-year-old best friend since childhood.'

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Ayala Sorotsky • Writer and Editor
Mar 19, 2026 9:00 PM EDT

Growing up with a cat best friend is a gift that not a lot of people get to have, but the few who do can attest to how purrecious it is.

There are many advantages of growing up with a pet in your house. Kids who grow up with animals learn to tend to another creature, which is a valuable lesson about responsibility in and of itself. But then there are the specific kids who grow up with cats - they don't just tend to the culinary needs of a goldfish, they don't just get to pet a bunny, and they don't just get a (wonderful) playmate as a dog. They grow up with an animal that teaches them a lot more than responsibility - boundaries, respect, loyalty, and many different ways of showing love. That's the way of the cat.

And when a bond between a cat and their human, once a child and later an adult, spans over two decades of tight friendship, of overcoming hardships, you get the most beautiful bond to witness. And one such person shared with the online feline family the strong connection they have with their 21-year-old cat. This is an old cat with a wholesome story.

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  • 01
    Meet Murphy, my 21yo best friend since childhood (im 31). Shes traveled the country in a tractor trailer, moved homes 5 or 6 times, been through years of family trauma and ab e with me, etc....
    via gimme5steps101
  • 02
    Meatball Peppers W SEWILLE SC 11993 F
    via gimme5steps101
  • 03
    As soon as I get home from work and sit down she demands to jump up on my lap and won't move unless I move her. I can sit for hours watching a movie and she won't move, she'll fall asleep snoring, lol
    via gimme5steps101
  • 04
    FORGOT TO MENTION!!! In December of 2023 she Road tripped with me from our home in South Carolina up to New York City for 8 days to go get lost in the Big Apple and see Phish for 4 nights at MSG for New Years (dream come true!!)
    via gimme5steps101
  • 05
    Colonel Forbin has his fleethound McGrupp. I have Murphy, The Little Sh.. :)
    via gimme5steps101
  • 06
    TigerBillHawaii Hi Murphy! Nice to meet you. How are you doing today.
    via TigerBillHawaii
  • 07
    OP gimme5steps101 Today her owner is on the rough end of post-nasal drip and head cold passing out on the couch while she demands cuddles and attention lol
    via gimme5steps101
  • 08
    FairElderberry1880 My 15 yo calico girl has the same story. Moved so many times across the country with me and has been through the loss of 3 family members and 2 abive relationships. She's my best friend. I hope and pray my girl can make it to 21 like yours has.
    via FairElderberry1880

  • A cat doesn't have to go through hardships with their person to become their true best friend, but it is most certain that if a cat goes through the rough patches of life with their person - their friendship becomes unbreakable, unwavering, that of loyalty and a strong bond of love and care. After a cat has held you, emotionally, through some unusual hardships that most people don't experience daily, both the cat and the human come out on the other side stronger - both individually, in their character, and also together, as a best friends duo.

    This is why we know that the natural bond between cats and their people is something special. Not every animal could bond like that with a person in need, and not all people could attach themselves to their pet like this. A cat and their person will always be best friends.

    Even though 15 is a very respectable age for a cat, we sincerely hope this one cat reaches 21, at least, as their human wishes as well.

  • 09
    OP gimme5steps 101 If she has a tenth of the sassiness of this one then she will be there with you for life :)
    via gimme5steps101
  • 10
    hal2184 Going through pretty much the same thing at the moment. Hope Murphy has the healing purr shield set up as I refer to it with our kitties <3
    via hal2184
  • 11
    OP gimme5steps 101 Thanks. I've been on the couch all night and she laid on my lap for a little bit and then got up and laid down right next to me instead, lol. Guess she didn't want my germs breathing down on her!
    via gimme5steps101
  • 12
    Internal-Aside2132 She is gorgeous!! Hi Murphy!!
    via Internal-Aside2132
  • 13
    OP gimme5steps101 Thanks! Obviously I'm biased because she's my cat, but I've always thought she had particularly good looking patterns. Calicos and tortoise | often think kind of look like "ratty street kids", haha But her colors and patterns are really nicely distributed and she's really pretty I think
    via gimme5steps101
  • 14
    pk_kaboom Murphy is beautiful. You two are so lucky to have each other. Please give her a pet for me.
    via pk_kaboom
  • 15
    OP gimme5steps101 She will get pets and belly rubs and she will get a raspberry for me on her stomach. She will let me touch her and pet her anywhere with no resistance. It's really funny.
    via gimme5steps101
  • 16
    kidde1 Funny how love looks. Your description says it all, you will sit for hours to make sure she can be comfortable. You are an exceptional hoomun!
    via kidde1
  • 17
    OP gimme5steps101 In my current relationship my partner can't stand her being on furniture so unfortunately she has to sleep elsewhere, but for years what it was just heard I she would sleep on top of my head on the top of my pillow or she would weasel her way under the covers and sleep next to me under the covers For years! Lol. Only after the age of 10 or so though
    via gimme5steps101
  • 18
    Gavither Aww, that is sad for Murphy though that she isn't allowed to cuddle with her pack. I couldn't do that to my Pandora, she doesn't like other cats after our senior guy d d 10 years ago.
    via Gavither
  • 19
    OP gimme5steps 101 Yeah it's annoying but relationship is about compromising to be fair that's not something particularly extreme. I get it. My partner absolutely can't stand animals just because he's a germaphobe and cats throw up and all that kind of stuff, so it's already a giant compromise on his end that he lets me keep her and live here with him (of course I would never in a million years get rid of her!)
    via gimme5steps101
  • 20
    She has a very comfy bed on the ground in the room next to the bedroom and I have an office room where I do music and computer stuff and she has a large fluffy pillow that she lays on on the ground right next to me whenever I'm in there
    via gimme5steps101
  • 21
    Right now my partner is away for 30 days to a health retreat thing so I have the entire apartment to myself for a month so you bet your a she's in bed with me right now. :D
    via gimme5steps101
  • 22
    Able-Grocery2353 Murphy knows where the best seat in the house is! It took Nippy about 4 years before she would sit in my lap. Of course, it must be done totally on her time and terms, lol. Funny thing, she will only sit there if we are alone in the room. If she's in my lap when anyone else walks in the room, she jumps up. I guess she don't want anyone else seeing her soft side, lol!
    via Able-Grocery2353
  • 23
    OP gimme5steps 101 It took Murphy about 18 years!!! We used to call her the anti-lap cat For years she hated being held or sitting on you or anything like that. But she would always want to be near you and sit right next to you or in the same room as you.
    via gimme5steps101

  • Apparently, when they say people get soft with age, they didn't think to include cats in the mix. Cats are known to follow a similar path. Sire, some become “cranky old people” just like, well, people. But some cats' character is softened, and they become even sweeter than they were. And Murphy here? 18 years to accept the lap nap is a long time. But maybe she knew something about her longevity that her human didn't know. She just needed to reach the point where it's the right time for her. Even if it took her 18 whole years…

  • 24
    Incrementally she got noticeably nicer with each passing year. It was really weird to watch happen. After the age of 10 or so, she started to lay on the bed with me when I would go to sleep and worked her way up to demanding to sleep on my pillow above my head each night
    via gimme5steps101
  • 25
    Then it turned into she would weasel her way under the covers and sleep next to me under the covers!!!
    via gimme5steps101
  • 26
    Finally in the last two or three years or so she has started jumping up into my lap and sitting on me. If I don't pick her up she will walk up to the couch and look up at me like a beggar and stare at me until I pick her up or until she just jumps, lol
    via gimme5steps101
  • 27
    For years though I have conditioned her into liking me held though so I can hold her and pick her up whenever and she's fine with it at least, haha It's a really crazy and I'm still getting used to it, haha
    via gimme5steps101
  • 28
    NotPlayingFR I'm hoping to travel with my kitties. Wish Murphy could give them a pep talk!
    via NotPlayingFR
  • 29
    OP gimme5steps 101 She would say run while you can, lol
    via gimme5steps101
  • 30
    Significant-Turn-667 I had the same with Winkle. Didn't travel too much though. I would be in a chair for no more than 10 seconds and he would jump in my lap.
    via Significant-Turn-667
  • 31
    At his age over 21 he chasing the tiniest bug floating in the air. Winkle would wait for me towards the end of the day at our letterbox. He always came for a cuddle or whatever when called.
    via Significant-Turn-667
  • 32
    Passed away due to a superficial lump near his spine that was miss diagnosed as non cancerous. Sincerely wishing you and Murphy many more years together
    via Significant-Turn-667
  • 33
    OP gimme5steps 101 Thank you so much. Awwwww he would wait by the mailbox?! Murphy is strictly an indoor cat her entire life. She came into our yard trying to eat dried up. crunchy leaves when she was a kitten. My mom gave her a can of tuna and boom we had a cat.
    via gimme5steps101
  • 34
    This happened literally 3 or 4 months after our Fox terrier of 5 years got hit by a car. So we were like yeah she's indoors... We used to let her sunbathe outside next to our in-ground pool which had a screened enclosure
    via gimme5steps101
  • 35
    But there was a neighbor cat - this really fat and giant all white male cat that we called EL BLANCO - that would always come over and try to pick fights. And one day when Murphy was a couple years old they got into it through the screen and he scratched her badly. She got infected really badly and according to the vet almost d d from it if we didn't get her to the vet sooner.
    via gimme5steps101

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friendship wholesome old cat best friends heartwarming childhood senior Cats senior cats
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