One chilly October afternoon, Marissa Eller stepped out to her front porch hoping for a few quiet minutes. Instead, her life changed in the most unexpected way.
From the edge of her driveway, a tabby cat with crisp white paws appeared. Marissa had noticed him around the neighborhood before and assumed he belonged to a stray colony nearby.
But this time, the cat didn’t skitter away like a feral would. Instead, he locked eyes with her and strolled confidently toward the porch.
“I started calling for him, and he yelled back at me nonstop,” Eller told The Dodo. “He came right up, let me pet him, then sat on the step and climbed into my lap.”
Though Marissa had never really spent time with cats before, she instantly sensed how unusual his trust was. “He did that head-butting thing cats do, which I didn’t even know was a thing,” she laughed. “You can see in the photo I took — I’m just shocked at how quickly he connected with me.”
The cat, soon named Boots, had clearly chosen her. Marissa begged her family to let him stay. Her mom was on board, but her grandmother and father weren’t convinced. So for weeks, Marissa and her mom bundled up in coats to sit outside with Boots whenever he visited.
Then, one cold day, her grandmother softened. “She came home, saw us sitting on the deck with Boots in freezing weather, and said, ‘That’s ridiculous. Just bring him inside,’” Marissa said.
Boots walked in like he’d always belonged. At first, he still had the freedom to wander outside, but it wasn’t long before he decided that indoors — with his new family — was exactly where he wanted to be.
It was only later that Marissa learned the truth about his past. Boots hadn’t always been a stray — his previous owners had abandoned him after getting a puppy, leaving him to fend for himself. Despite that betrayal, he remained remarkably trusting.
“He has golden retriever energy,” Marissa said. “He’s chaotic in a loving way, always playful, but he just adores people. It’s amazing to me that he walked right up to me after everything he’d been through.”
Now, seven years later, Boots is still filling Marissa’s life with laughter and love.
He’s endlessly affectionate, a little mischievous, and adored by everyone who meets him — from friends to cat sitters to the thousands of people who follow his antics online.
“He’s become a huge source of emotional support for me,” Marissa said. “He’s changed my life in ways I can’t even put into words.”
Boots may still knock over trash cans and sneak his paw into Marissa’s soup, but at the end of every day, he curls up against her chest and reminds her that she wasn’t just sitting on her porch that afternoon — she was waiting for him.
Eller wasn’t expecting to gain a family member when she sat on her porch that afternoon seven years ago. But looking back on it now, she believes it was a matter of fate.
“I really believe he chose us,” Marissa said. “And we’re all better for it.”
You can keep up with Boots’ adventures by following him on X.
