This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Submit your own rescue story here. Your story just might be the next to be featured on our blog!

While Viper passed away two years ago, she remains one of the best animals I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

This beautiful girl graced my life when she was already 6 years old. I lived out in the country, and one extremely cold winter evening, she showed up on my doorstep. She seemed to know people and was acting like she desperately wanted inside. My heart melted for her and I let her in.

She was very hungry, so I fed her and gave her water. She then proceeded to spend the rest of the night cuddled on the couch letting me brush all of the little burrs out of her fur.

What makes Viper's story so surprising to me is that I actually found her owners. She had an ear tattoo, and I made a bunch of calls and managed to track down her original owners.

It turns out, they'd been forced to move into the city and had to give her up because she wasn't coping well with the traffic and noise and small spaces. They had rehomed her to a different family, but she was a shy cat and they'd had a bunch of rambunctious boys. She had run away within two weeks.

My surprising little girl had traveled almost 40 miles to reach my doorstep. Her original owners came to my house to take her back, and it was only then that I learned her story. They lamented to me that now they'd have to find a new home for her.

What could I do but offer my own home to her? It seemed like fate to me that she had traveled so far in the middle of winter to end up in my house. They cried to leave her again but knew that she'd found a loving home.

She was one of the sweetest, most cuddliest, most capable, and biggest hearted cats I've ever known, and I count the short 10 years I was able to share her love a pure blessing.

Story submitted by Crystal from Edmonton, Canada.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!