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Cat Visits Grieving Family, Returns Home With A Heartwarming ‘Thank You’ Note

By Jonathan Franks
Published on: 04:10 PST, Dec 31, 2015

When you allow a cat to roam free outside of the home, there is no telling where he or she may go.

As a pet owner, you may hope that your lovable cat remains safe and makes it back home in one piece. However, unless you have some sort of tracking device on them, you more than likely won’t know exactly what they did while they were away.

Whether they are finding a new friend or finding some fresh food, many cats seem to roam the streets and neighborhoods simply looking for adventure. That is reportedly what happened to one cat in particular named Nala.

Instead of focusing on herself, Nala reportedly spent her time away from the home visiting and supporting a grieving family.

According to a Reddit post on Wednesday, this cat came home with a note. It is apparently a “Thank You” note from another family that Nala had been periodically visiting. Even though the writer of the note did not reveal their name within it, they were very open about what the cat would do at their house during each visit.

“I don’t know who this cat belongs to, but she comes [sic] visits us every few weeks. She’ll meow outside our back door until we let her in; she wounds herself around our legs, walks around the house like it’s hers, waits [at] the fridge until my husband or I feed her baloney. She doesn’t like…cat food very much!”

cat note
[Image via Imgur]

At first glance, the note may seem like a complaint or at least a notice that this cat is begging for food from strangers. That is, of course, until you read the closing two sentences, which speak volumes and are emotionally stirring.

“We look forward to her visits. We lost our 21 year old cat this year.”

Reddit user GoldenState30 shared the story of his girlfriend’s cat’s adventure on Wednesday along with Nala’s picture.

Nala cat
[Image via Imgur]

According to Mental Floss, helping people cope with the death of a loved one is one of the many benefits of owning a cat.

The report states that cats “have been shown to help people get over their loss more quickly and show less physical symptoms of pain, like crying.” It further explains that these feline companions serve as a “social support during difficult times.” Many people in grief reportedly talk to their pets to share their emotions and work out their feelings since it’s easier to “talk to someone that won’t respond and can’t judge.”

One Swiss study conducted in 2003 concluded that having a cat for some people is the emotional equivalent of having a romantic partner, especially since cats “will remember kindness shown to them and return the favor later.”

Since this family apparently lost an old cat in death, perhaps having Nala to essentially fill that void at least temporarily helped them to the point where they felt that a “thank you” note to her owner’s was needed.

As mentioned, many cats leave home and have their own adventures out in the world before returning home without any explanation or details of their journey.

Quite a few people have even shared the news of their own cats’ recent homecoming on Twitter.

Perhaps if more people attached notes to roaming cats about their whereabouts, there would be more heartwarming stories and encouraging experiences like this one to share.

[Image via Reddit/Imgur and Dollar Photo Club]

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