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One day, my husband and I decided to visit our local shelter just to see the cats. We were originally just going to visit, and we were looking from cage to cage.

PHOTO: CYNTHIA FROM GARLAND, TX

One we passed had an older cat, and she seemed friendly, but the one across from her was a young cat who had these amazing blue eyes and was reaching out to us. All the other cats didn't seem to care if we were there, but he did.

Lefty was wanting to play, and would meow until we returned to him. We decided he would be coming home with us. The lady asked if we were sure since he was labeled as aggressive. We told her yes, we wanted to take him home. That day, we took him to the vet for his rabies shot as required by the shelter and took him home.

KITTEN. PHOTO: PIXABAY / KAPIQOOMUSIC

We found out he was a lynx point Siamese and was declawed. The first week, he was yowling, but we were told it's part of the breed. He decided to play attack us when we passed him, so a new name was in order since Lefty didn't seem to fit him. We renamed him Stryker.

After he settled down a bit, he would not leave my side and was very protective of me and the baby I was carrying. He even bit my husband on the butt once because he thought he was hurting me. Once the baby was born and we brought her home, Stryker instantly went over to her and sniffed around, then settled down next to her. He became her guard cat from the day we brought our daughter home, and still four years later is her cat. She is the only one who can slobber over him, lay on him, or even tug his tail, and he would still purr. My youngest he likes but is not as tolerant with her. I think from the beginning, Stryker knew Diana was special (she is autistic) and that's why he reached out. We believe he adopted us and not the other way around.

PHOTO: CYNTHIA FROM GARLAND, TX

Story submitted by Cynthia from Garland, Texas.

This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!