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"She's the last cat in the cage. I think she's too ugly," my friend said.

That was all it took. I dashed to the pet shop and bought her. And so Strudel, the ugly cat with a beautiful heart, came home with me.

This beautiful soul lived with me for 20 years. And every night for twenty years, she patted me on the nose, and I would lift the duvet and let her crawl into bed. Then she would curl up into the crook of my arm and off we would slip into dreamland together.

Going for walks was an adventure for her. She would follow me or run ahead and wait for me to catch up, drawing looks of amazement.

"She's like a dog!" they would gasp.

And I would smile, my heart bursting with love for my wonderful friend. She was my sun, and I was her moon. She and I would orbit one another, her bell reassuring me that she was never far away.

Fiercely protective of me, she would growl at strange noises in the house and came when I whistled her special whistle. I knew her miaow the way a mother knows her baby's cry. Fearless and brave, she once chased a Doberman off our property, coming back to me to show a pawful of black fur from the hindquarter of the unwelcome visitor.

My heart broke the day she started bumping into furniture. I knew she was going blind, a sure sign her kidneys were failing. One cold morning, I realised I hadn't seen Strudel for a while. I ran downstairs to find her lying, wide-eyed and terrified, in the throes of a massive stroke. I kissed her, put her in her basket and took her to the vet, barely able to see where I was going through the tears. It was her time.

I cry as I write this, over 15 years later. But I know that Strudel will hear my whistle when I cross the Rainbow Bridge, and she'll come running to me as she did all those years ago.

Story submitted by Diane Van der Westhuizen from Cape Town, South Africa.

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