Published Mar 19, 2024
Calebjferg
When Caleb was walking home from a job interview one day, faint meows stopped him in his tracks. That moment marked the beginning of an unlikely friendship that changed his life.
New to this cat thing
“I thought I was hearing things,” Caleb said, noting that, at first, he couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from. Then suddenly, “I looked down, and there was a kitten standing by my leg.”
World, meet Nala. / Calebjferg
“I wasn’t going to keep her,” Caleb said of the surprise encounter, “I’ve never had a cat before.”
But he couldn’t figure out where she’d wandered up from, and with no humans around to ask, Caleb didn’t want to leave the stray kitten alone on the dangerous sidewalk.
“I don’t know what to do with [her],” he said in a video he shared on social media upon meeting her, “but I think [she] might be the homie.”
So he took her with him.
The Lioness King
Noticing that she might be sick, Caleb went to the vet. Fortunately, the kitten only had a minor respiratory infection that antibiotics quickly cleared up.
Upon learning at the vet she was not, in fact, a male cat, Caleb decided to name her Nala after the character in his second-favorite Disney movie.
What a cuddle monster. / Calebjferg
“I knew she was going to stay when she fell asleep on my shoulder,” Caleb said of the moment Nala became family.
They’ve been inseparable ever since.
His reliable rock
After getting settled in at home, Nala began to thrive.
He said she followed Caleb around the house nonstop. And unless he wanted to find the toilet paper unraveled from the roll every day, the amateur cat dad learned to always keep the bathroom door closed.
She’s “real playful,” Caleb said, adding the kitten can be “a little bit sassy” as well.
But Caleb’s connection with Nala goes far beyond a human-pet dynamic. She’s become a reliable rock in his life, one he’s learned to lean on when the rest of the world falls short.
“It’s like we’ve been friends my whole life,” he said. “I just know that she’ll always be here for me. There’s peace of mind in knowing that. When humans fail me, I know Nala, she won’t fail me.”
