Welcome to the Wednesday Cats of Catster! Every week, we share a story from one of our cat-loving Catsters. This week is about Isabel and her sassy rescue, Milly.

Hi, Catsters! My name is Isabel Ludick and I’m the Marketing Director here at Catster. You may also recognize me from the Catster YouTube channel. I’m a certified cat lover and I’m so excited to share my experience as a lifelong cat owner with you all.

I’ve been a cat lover since I can remember. My family has always had cats, dogs, bunnies, and fish, and although I love all animals deeply, cats have always been my absolute favorite animal and pet. When I was a kid and adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I used to say, “A cat, of course!”

Now, please allow me to introduce my sassy rescue cat, Milly.

Milly is my beautiful, six-year-old white/tabby cat. She’s a domestic shorthair and her cuteness is unmatched. Let me tell you the story of how we met and instantly became best friends.

The year was 2018. I studied Psychology and English at the North West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa.¹ Even though I’ve always had cats growing up, I’ve never had a cat of my own. As a student, living on my own for the first time, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to rescue a cat.

I asked my boyfriend (now fiance), “Can we please go to the shelter this weekend to play with the cats and maybe we can bring one home?” He, never having cats (or pets) growing up, said, “Sure, why not!” Such a keeper. We planned our shelter visit and we were both so excited! A couple of days before we were supposed to go, a friend of his called him and said that he rescued a litter of kittens that was born in the back of the bar where he worked. The bar was called Die Mystic Boer (the mystic farmer) and it just so happened to be my favorite bar in town!

The friend said that he had already found good homes for almost all of the kittens, but he had one left, and no one seemed interested in her because she wasn’t as pretty as the other kittens. What are the chances? In the same week I decided that I wanted a cat, a friend called us and said he had one. It was fate. I had to go meet this little unwanted kitten born in the back of my favorite bar.

We went to his house that day and walked into his enclosed room to find the smallest little kitten with the dirtiest little mouth hiding between his shoes in the closet. My heart instantly melted and I dropped to my knees. She was very scared and a little feral so I knew I had to take my time. Luckily, being well acquainted with cats, I knew how to introduce myself. It took about an hour until she finally sniffed my hand. From that moment we both knew we’d be best friends forever.

I stood up, we drove to the nearest pet store and bought a cat carrier, a soft blanket, food and water bowls, a litterbox, and cat litter. We went back to the friend’s house, gently picked her up, and placed her in the carrier. She was coming home with me.

I couldn’t understand why no one would want her, she was the cutest, dirtiest little street cat I had ever laid eyes on. I named her Milly. I took her to the vet that next morning for a general checkup and to get her first vaccinations. The vet said she was about 4 weeks old and very malnourished. She probably only had bar scraps to eat in her first few weeks of life. We’re not sure if Milly was perhaps the runt of the litter and didn’t get any milk. The vet gave me everything I needed to nurse her back to health and that is exactly what I did.

Fast forward to today, six years later, she’s the happiest, healthiest, sassiest little cat in Cape Town and I love her more than life itself. All those people who turned her down can eat their hearts out because look at her! She’s so beautiful I can cry (and I do sometimes). Just kidding. I did cry many times in our journey together at the thought of us never meeting. Where would she have been today if I didn’t find her? I don’t even want to know.

All that matters is that we did find each other.

I really do believe that fate brought us together and it brings me so much joy to share our story with my fellow Catsters! We have many more stories to share, of our journey getting to know each other in Potchefstroom, moving back home to Johannesburg after I graduated, meeting all our other cats, becoming a mom cat (by accident), moving cross country to Cape Town in an airplane, living on a golf course, becoming a YouTube star and so much more.

Stay tuned!