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One day, I happened to catch a photo of a cat called "Smokey" shared by our local shelter. I was taken aback by how much he looked like a kitten we had adopted out called LB. We lost touch with the family who adopted LB and had no idea where he might be. Because the similarities between the two were so identical, I immediately called my mom, who agreed it was too coincidental not to check.

CAT. PHOTO: PIXABAY / JONAS RIEMER

Smokey was a 2-year-old male grey tabby in isolation because he was showing aggressive behavior. The only info the shelter had was that he was dumped anonymously overnight with a note saying "He wasn't good with kids." Unless he could move out of isolation, he wouldn't be adopted out. We decided to leave our info and said we would visit him again to check on him but that if he couldn't be adopted out, we would take him.

Four days later, I received a voicemail saying that Smokey wasn't letting any of the workers touch him and that we needed to get him by 6 p.m. that day or he'd be euthanized. Mom and I were apprehensive because we didn't know how he was going to react to us. The worker took us back to the isolation hold and removed a blanket covering his cage. He immediately hissed and growled at the worker but as soon as he saw my mom and me, he let us pet him and he let me pick him up and put him into a pet carrier like it was nothing. The shelter workers were so shocked at his complete change of temperament that they were convinced it must have been our LB.

PHOTO: KALANI ODUM

We've had Smokey for a little over a week now and he has been the most affectionate, playful, and well-behaved cat since day one. We can never be 100% certain that this is LB, but we can't deny that it was meant for us to be his furever home. Had we not wanted him, he would have been euthanized and never given a chance.

Story submitted by Kalani Odum from Bluff City, Tennessee.

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