She rescued her soulmate cat only for the animal shelter to give her away: 'Can't help feeling betrayed'
We don't always get what we want, even if we work hard to achieve it. In one such incident, a Reddit user who goes by @u/fromthewindyplace on the platform shared how she yearned to pet a cat, which was later given for adoption to someone else. Broken and utterly sad, the woman shared the story via a Reddit Post. The post was published on July 21 and has garnered 23k upvotes so far.
It all started in June 2024, when she and her flatmates were about to part ways. No drama in hindsight, just life moving on, taking the roommates away with it. The only string attached was with a cat, which was owned by one of the roommates, whom she described as J in the post. J’s cat was equally fond of @u/fromthewindyplace. They both used to spend quality time together when J was busy or out of station. Knowing that J was about to relocate, she realized she'd highly miss her cat. One day, on a usual Sunday morning, she was going about her routine work when she heard the mewling of a severely injured cat. She and J rushed to check on the cat, whose health was deteriorating rapidly.
The cat had been through a hard time, as she was struggling to trust J, who jumped into a bush to catch her, only to be bitten by her later. The captured kitten was unstable, so she was brought to the adoption centre the next day. The animal shelter analysed the kitten’s health and took her in. When J approached the centre with her desire to adopt the kitten, they decided to put her in quarantine as she had been bitten by the cat. A few days later, the Reddit user realized that if J was in quarantine, then she could adopt the cat and would finally be able to have an animal companion for life. She applied, filled the form, and gave her details, and was queued up second after J. Since J was isolated, she inched up to first on the list. But destiny had other plans.
The adoption company somehow managed to mix up the details and put her in the third position as a viable candidate to adopt the cat. When she called to confirm her adoption, she was informed that the cat was already reserved for another family. This error occurred due to an employee not logging her interest in adopting the cat. Upon confrontation, they apologised for the mess and mix-up they had made. In return, they sought to waive her fees for her next adoption, but this was neither sufficient nor what she wanted. The news devastated her and shattered her heart. For years, the only thing she ever desired was to have a cat. She came so close, only to miss her chance due to the mismanagement of an adoption centre. Her rescue kitten was adopted by the party that was listed above her, and she was left bereft of the love she deserved.
People online shared her pain and consoled her. “Poor girl was losing to a spreadsheet. They had targets to hit... so she became unadoptable as she was a 'welfare issue'. Honestly, an extremely stressful situation. I had to point out that if they killed the cat, I would not be volunteering to foster another with them,” said @u/Dr_Passmore. “I kind of feel like someone affiliated with/friend of the shelter wanted the cat and you're getting screwed. Once they realized the error, why would you not tell the second person who promised the cat they aren't getting it instead of the first?” said @u/CoherentMarmoset.