Shelter cat siblings reunited when owners start dating

PETALUMA, Ca. — Could this story of romance and reunited family be mere coincidence or is it fate?  A couple meets online but finds out they have a lot more in common than they think.

It all started in 2014 when Cathleen Cavin took her daughter to the animal shelter to get a kitten.

They picked out an orange one and took "Ozzy" home but Cathleen always felt guilty that she had separated it from its sibling.

So, she promised her daughter she would find Ozzy's brother.  After a couple years of fruitless searching, there was still no happy ending for Ozzy or Cathleen’s daughter—but Cathleen did find someone else.

Brian Herrera was on a dating website and hit it off with Cathleen.  They started a relationship and everything was going along well until she went over to his house.

Brian says that Cathleen "…notices a cat scurry by and she stops everything and she says, that's my cat!  And I say, no way, that's MY cat, what are you talking about??  Thinking she's this crazy cat lady.  And she just kept going, that's my cat!  So, I'm thinking…OK, red flags! What's going on?”

But Cathleen wasn't crazy at all.

They checked their shelter records and found that Ozzie and "Butter" were, in fact, the long-lost brothers.

After three years apart, the brothers are getting reacquainted.  Brian and Cathleen plan to move in together next month.  The cats, it turns out, aren’t the only coincidence they share.

Both were living in the same towns at the same time without ever meeting—more than once.  Cathleen just believes it was all just meant to be, calling it fate.

Brian points out that they’re not engaged yet, but acknowledges he can’t stand in the way of destiny.

Cox Media Group