After losing their soul cat of 15 years, grieving person vows to never adopt again, then fate leads them to a tiny abandoned kitten fighting to survive

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Nov 3, 2026 3:00 PM EST

Even when you think you are not ready, the CDS might have other plans for you. 

Losing your cat is every cat owner's worst nightmare. They bring us so much joy, they fill our homes with so much peace, and we know that life would look terrifyingly different without them and their shenanigans. As someone who has owned only one cat throughout her life, whose cat is now nearly 12 years old, I can say confidently, with experience, that it's every cat owner's worst nightmare. And sure, senior cats are the cutest, the sweetest, the gentlest and most loving, but they are also the most fragile. 

Adopting a senior cat is something that we encourage people to do all the time. Senior cats are less likely to be adopted from shelters, but they deserve homes as much as any kitten. We also understand why it might be more difficult to adopt them. It means potentially having less time with them, losing them sooner, and like we said, that's every cat owner's worst fear. And the pain of the loss… some of us handle it better than others, but it's devastating to us all. I don't know, personally, how long it will take me to adopt again after that fateful day comes. Maybe, just like the person in today's story, I will vow never to adopt again. And maybe, just like it happened to them, the CDS will have other plans for me and purrsonally deliver me a kitten that I simply cannot say no to. Maybe that's the CDS's way of helping us deal with grief. 

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    "I was part of the CDS and had no idea it was even a thing. Meet Vladimir."

    --
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  • 02
    I lost my soulmate April 2022. I vowed to never get a cat again, because it was devastating.
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  • This is the kind of pain that I fear more than anything right now, as a cat owner of an old kitty. She's nearly 12, not even that old, right? But she's old enough for me to worry. Anytime anything looks even slightly wrong, anytime there is even the smallest change in her routine or her behavior, I worry. Because I think that when the day will come that she leaves me, I will react in the same way. Of course, just like this person, my love for cats in general will never go away, and maybe, just maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I will be chosen in the same way that they were. No choice in the matter. Grieving, heartbroken, but with room to love a new cat as well. 

  • 03
    Cheezburger Image 10674294272
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  • 04
    I really was never going to again. I had him for 15.5 years, through nearly every major event in my life. We'd just lost our dog in March.
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  • 05
    CT
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  • 06
    Welp, cut to the very end of June. An 7.5 month old kitten had been tossed in the woods, terrified.
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    He was rough, malnourished, missing hair, some scars from fights. He refused to come out from under the car.
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  • 09
    Э Я Jadolǝ
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  • 10
    For a few days, I put cans of food/water under the car. One day, I sat on the scorching blacktop (burned my bt) until he felt safe enough to let me touch him (1st pic).
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    We tried getting him to the vet and he bit my husband. We pushed too hard, so that's on us. Apparently rabies shots aren't pleasant in the hand 13.
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  • 14
    For 2 weeks, he'd come on the porch and eventually started sleeping on one of the rocking chairs.
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    One day, he went MIA and I was devastated. We'd intended on keeping him outdoors, but he was just so sweet and so little. He came back 2 days later, and had gotten in a fight.
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    Cheezburger Image 10674297344
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    The vet said if you want him alive, he's gotta come in. I hung up, drove to the store for a litter box, etc. He came in that night.
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  • When the choice is so simple, I believe I would have made the same one. No matter how grief-stricken, how much pain you might still be experiencing, turning your back on an animal in need is something that a kind person could never do. And this person is clearly kind and someone who has a huge heart for cats. We wish more people could be like this, honestly, unable to turn their back when an animal needs their help, no matter how “inconvenient” or badly timed it may be. 

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    Cheezburger Image 10674297088
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    He was terrified, so I stayed in the room all day/night, sleeping on the floor. The black hoodie pics are the first night he came in. Let me tell you when he curled under my chin, that was it.
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  • 21
    Welp, here we are 3.5 months later. He'd got ptsd and asthma, but he's healthy and crazy and silly and so loving.
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  • 22
    He seriously has every reason to be mean, but he's so trusting and so brave. I thank him constantly for trusting us and now I'm getting teary eyed.
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  • 23
    I just love him so much and I'm so grateful (as I hear his pitter patter walking under me now).
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