If there's one thing all cat owners know, it's that our feline friends definitely value their freedom.
But few cats crave independence as much as Nala, a kitty owned by Reddit user goldenstate30 and their girlfriend.
Nala is an outdoor cat, free to roam the neighborhood as she pleases, and she always comes home periodically to eat, sleep, and grace her humans with her presence.
Most of us assume that when outdoor cats are out, they must be lounging in a sunny spot, climbing trees, or stalking little insects and birds in the high grass.
But as it turns out, Nala was up to something else: Nala was cheating!
We all know that cats like to scheme, and we also know that humans have a hard time not giving food to animals who beg — even when we shouldn't, since it can lead to weight gain and health problems. So you might guess what Nala was really up to while she was out in the neighborhood…
Read on to find out what she was doing, and how her humans finally figured it out!
[H/T: BoredPanda]
Nala lives in an area that allows her to safely go out and explore her surroundings each day, and she always comes back. She also has a collar, just in case.
But while her humans thought she was just enjoying nature, she was actually doing something very different.
And they only found out when she came home toting something unexpected.
Folded and wedged into her collar was this note from an unknown neighbor. It read:
"I don't know who this cat belongs to, but she comes [and] visits us every few weeks. She'll meow outside our back door until we let her in. She [winds] herself around our legs, walks about the house like it's hers, waits at the fridge until my husband or I feed her baloney. She doesn't like our cat food very much! We look forward to her visits. We lost our 21-yr-old cat this year."
It turned out that Nala had a secret family on the side! The couple, who finally wrote the note, had lost their own cat shortly before, and so seeing Nala must have been comforting for them.
Even funnier was that after Nala's story was posted to Reddit, many other people started coming forward with tales of their own cheating cats, or of being the "other family" to a visiting cat!
It seems outdoor cats have quite the system.
Of course, outdoor cats face a number of threats, too, including other pets, wild animals, and cars. If you have an outdoor cat, please make sure they're safe.
And if you know someone who wonders where their cat goes all day, SHARE this story and clear up the mystery!
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