“He 100 percent chose our family” 🐈⬛
It’s not unusual to see black cat statues scattered across lawns during the Halloween season, but the black cat that wandered into Ashley Testa’s yard one crisp autumn day was very much alive—and very determined. He wasn’t a decoration. He was a real, breathing stray, and he was heading straight for her open front door.
The encounter began when Testa noticed two glowing eyes under a car parked across the street from her house. She immediately recognized the cat as a stray who had been roaming the neighborhood for weeks. Something about his quiet, solitary presence tugged at her heart, and she couldn’t bear to see him alone again.
“How do I give him a home?” Testa wondered aloud in an Instagram Reel.
Unsure how to coax the wary feline, she decided to try the simplest approach: speak his language. “I did a quick meow to him, and he meowed back at me,” Testa told The Dodo.
Encouraged by the cat’s response, she continued. Gradually, he shimmyed out from beneath the car, stepping cautiously onto her lawn. Each time she meowed, he meowed back, until the distance between them closed and the two strangers were finally face-to-face.
“Most strays are gonna run from you,” Testa explained. “He just walked down the street, down my driveway, down my sidewalk, up my stairs. [He] came right over to me.”
Testa was so stunned by his confidence and friendliness that she nearly forgot her front door was open. But the curious black cat had no hesitation. He approached the doorway and, with a boldness that could only be described as fate, confidently stepped inside.
To Testa’s amazement, the cat immediately made himself at home. When she called her young son, Rome, downstairs to see what was happening, the cat’s reaction left her speechless. “He jumped in his lap, making biscuits in his lap right away, like, within seconds,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen … a cat who was that friendly and loving immediately.”
It was love at first sight—not just for Nox, as the cat would soon be named, but for Rome as well. The little boy, who had been asking for a dog all year, finally found the furry friend he had been wishing for. “It’s like they finally found each other,” Testa wrote in an Instagram Reel.
Nox settled into the home as if he had always been a member of the family. The next morning, Testa took him to the vet to check for a microchip and confirm he wasn’t a lost pet. When it became clear he wasn’t claimed by anyone, she officially decided to adopt him. From that moment on, Nox became an inseparable part of their lives.
“He is so, so cuddly. He wants all of the loving. He wants all of the nose boops. He just wants to be right here at all times,” Testa said, smiling at the thought of her new furry companion.
Although the Testas hadn’t been planning to add a cat to their family that year, they couldn’t imagine life without Nox now. How he ended up as a stray remains a mystery, but one thing was certain: he had chosen them, and they had chosen him. Fate had intervened, bringing the quiet black cat into their home—and hearts—forever.
“He 100 percent chose our family,” Testa said, and anyone who meets Nox can immediately see that she’s right.