She was abandoned 💔
At a Lowe’s garden center in Virginia, employee Ryan Finchum was hauling supplies when he heard a faint meow drifting from the fence line. Curious, he followed the sound and locked eyes with a tabby cat staring back at him.
Before long, the mystery feline was shadowing him down the aisles, plopping herself right in front of him as if to say, “Pay attention to me.”
At first, Finchum thought she might be a lost pet. But when no one came searching, he noticed something troubling: a rusty, broken animal crate discarded near the roadside. That’s when it hit him — she had been abandoned.
Ryan immediately called his fiancée, Makena Waldrip. Though out with friends, she dropped everything to rush to the store. “He told me, ‘I just have a feeling about this cat … like she’s supposed to be ours,’” Waldrip recalled.
When they tried coaxing her into a carrier, the cat surprised them. Instead of resisting, she hopped right in and chirped contentedly all the way home.
The couple named her Tilly. That first night, Waldrip sat cross-legged on the floor as Tilly nestled against her lap, rubbing her face into her hand with a grateful purr. “She is genuinely such a sweetheart,” Waldrip said. “I still can’t understand how anyone could dump her.”
It didn’t take long for Tilly to settle in. Within days, she was part of the family, happily sharing her new home with the couple’s two other cats. These days, she spends most of her time curled up in blankets on the couch — her favorite throne — though she’ll spring into action the second the laser toy comes out.
For Finchum and Waldrip, adopting Tilly felt less like a rescue and more like fate.
“She’s our little couch potato,” Waldrip said with a laugh. “We may have saved her, but honestly, I think we’re the lucky ones.”