Woman on vacation falls for a local cat who won't let her leave, when his owner finds them together he asks her out, and now there's a second date: 'I fell in love with the cat, let's see what happens [with the guy].'

Ayala Sorotsky • Writer and Editor

Jun 10, 2026 7:00 PM EDT

Have you ever had a date because of a cat?

We know it's possible because one young woman vacationing in Europe didn't just have a great time on a holiday, but met a cat who changed her life. The story she tells the r/notmycat community is really the closest thing to a real-life princess faitytale thing that we read in recent times. Usually, when we bring you a glow-up or rags-to-riches heartwarming story that we can all "aww" around together, it's about the cat becoming a house prince or princess after graduating from being a stray on the streets. But here the cat is the true hero MVP, being the best wingcat to a woman who potentially met her prince charming.

As all cat lovers do, she stopped to pet an extra-friendly cat. She didn't want to leave him alone, and even considered taking him all the way with her, despite being on vacation. She wouldn't be the first woman who adopted a cat from overseas, but in this case, it wasn't really necessary. This cat was already living the comfy and pampered house cat life… right in the European villa that hosted her. The owner of the place owned the cat as well (in the lack of a better term, because we all know the cat owns the human, obviously).

Before we dive into this ameowzing real-life fairytale, let us give you a little spoiler: you saw that we wrote "a second date" in the title, right? Well… there was a third, and this cat-induced romance just keeps getting better and better updates. We're smiling so wide here.

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The first plot twist of this tale is already setting everything up in the most pawsitive way possible. She sounds existed even through the text on the screen, doesn't she?
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We love this little piece of information! Not the date going astoundingly well - even though it's a reason to celebrate separately - but that the cat is a rescue. We absolutely love it when a street cat gets their best happy ending, adopted into a loving home. No wonder the cat was such a great matchmaker, they wanted to help their hooman find a good second parent to themselves!
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We love this update even more. She described it even further as an edit to her original post, where you can read about how swimmingly everything is going. And it seems the cat participated in their great dates as well. We're never against it - cats make everything better. Even blooming romance.
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