A few years ago in New York City, Erin noticed something very strange about her cat.
Baebo would not stop meowing at the window.
Not a soft chirp.
Not the occasional complaint.
This was loud. Constant. Urgent.
“It was just so loud,” Erin said in a video for The Dodo. “We even had neighbors texting us asking, ‘What’s going on? We hear a cat outside in your yard.’”
Baebo had never behaved like this before. He wasn’t the dramatic type. He wasn’t prone to window theatrics.
So Erin knew — something wasn’t right.
At first, she thought he might be reacting to another animal wandering past. But when the meowing didn’t stop, she took a closer look.
That’s when she realized Baebo wasn’t staring at nothing.
He was staring at kittens.
A feral cat had recently given birth nearby. Neighbors had managed to rescue most of the litter — but two tiny kittens were still unaccounted for.
Unbeknownst to Erin, they had been hiding out in her yard the entire time.
And Baebo had front-row seats.
Once Erin understood what he was trying to say, her family sprang into action. Her daughter, Zoë, was especially worried.
“It was the end of fall,” Zoë said. “Soon snow would arrive.”
The clock was ticking.
Using food, Erin and her neighbors were able to lure one kitten inside. They named her Waffles.
The second kitten, however, proved much more cautious. He darted away from every attempt to catch him. It took multiple humane traps and several days of patient tracking before they finally brought him safely indoors.
They named him Lupin — after the clever fictional gentleman thief — because of his impressive escape-artist skills.
Inside the warmth of Erin’s home, Waffles adjusted quickly. Lupin took longer. He was shy. Watchful. Unsure.
But he wasn’t alone.
With his sister by his side, Lupin slowly began to trust. Over time, the nervous little kitten started exploring more, playing more, and inching closer to the humans who had worked so hard to save him.
After a few months, a neighbor fell in love with Waffles and offered to give her a permanent home.
Then, during the holidays, Erin surprised her children with life-changing news: Lupin wasn’t going anywhere.
They were officially adopting him.
“They are totally my family,” Zoë said. “I personally love them a lot, even more than I like chocolate.”
As Lupin grew more confident, something even sweeter happened.
He bonded with Baebo.
The very cat who had cried out at the window until someone listened became Lupin’s best friend. The two now spend their days chasing each other through the house, wrestling, grooming, and curling up side by side for naps.
“It just seemed so sweet,” Erin said. “It was sort of like Baebo saved them.”
Because in a way, he did.
If Baebo hadn’t refused to stay quiet — if he hadn’t insisted, loudly and persistently, that something outside needed attention — those kittens might have faced winter alone.
Instead, one found a loving home nearby.
And the other found a brother.
All because one determined cat wouldn’t stop meowing until his family paid attention.
