'Almost Dead' Senior Shelter Cat Finds Home in Most Unexpected of Places

A senior cat who was rescued at death's door has found love and happiness in the most unexpected of places.

Stephanie Baldewijns from Sint-Truiden in Belgium did not at first appear to be the prime candidate for adopting 15-year-old Mimi.

"The moment I saw her on the shelter's Facebook page I had a feeling in my stomach I had to adopt her," Baldewijns told Newsweek. There was just one problem though. "I was a little in doubt because of my allergy to cats," she admits.

Not much is known about Mimi's life before she entered the Poezenpootjes animal shelter.

"She was found in the summer of 2023 but nobody knows how long she was on the streets for," said Baldewijns. "Staff at the shelter thought she had an owner before because of her old age and the fact she was not able to take care of herself outside. But she isn't chipped."

Whatever the circumstances, Mimi was in seriously ill health when she was rescued. "They told me she was found on the streets almost dead," Baldewijns said. "She has no teeth and you can see from the way she walks that she has arthritis."

She shared heartbreaking footage of Mimi in the shelter to TikTok under the handle stephaniexd97 with a caption explaining "she doesn't use the litter box so no one wanted to adopt her."

Senior shelter cats face an uphill struggle to be adopted compared to their younger counterparts. A previous study by the website Priceonomics, based on adoption data from Petfinder, found that 59.5 percent of adult shelter cats ended up being rehomed, compared with 81.9 percent of kittens.

Mimi was one of the lucky ones though because, unbeknownst to her, in the months that followed, she eventually caught Baldewijns' eye on Facebook.

A couple more weeks passed and then she noticed Mimi on the Facebook page again. "This was the moment I knew I had to get her home with me," Baldewijns said. "So I went to the shelter to meet her, of course, I was in love the moment she started cuddling me."

Within 15 minutes, she was in Baldewijns' car heading to her new forever home. "I started taking medication for my allergies," she said. "She's still the best decision I've made, she's literally my soulmate."

Adjustments have been made to make Mimi feel as comfortable as possible. She uses puppy pads in place of a litter box and barely has any accidents anymore.

More importantly, as Baldewijns' TikTok video shows, Mimi has come out of her shell. "She's more active and loves to play," her owner said. "She eats more, her fur is better and softer. She climbs on the sofa, runs around and sometimes it doesn't look like she's 15 years old."

Baldewijns was told Mimi could live for "up to five years" more but is just happy living in the moment with her rescue cat and hopes her story will inspire others to adopt rather than shop.

"I shared my story so people can see senior cats deserve a golden home," she said. "It's scary to know they won't be with you for a very long time but it's worth all the love they give."

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