After Convincing Landlord, Woman Brings The Saddest Stray Cat Home, A Year Later, He’s Unrecognizable

Meet Mister Bruce Willis. Not the hard-edged badass one we used to see on the big screen, but this one is definitely a fighter, too. Mister Willis is a cat who started his story as “the saddest cat.” He looked as if the struggles of being a stray cat roaming the streets for years were written in his eyes. It took him years to finally find a loving owner—Sandra, who, ironically, also had to go through quite a few obstacles to bring him home.

6-year-old Mister Willis had significant health issues: scars, an eye injury, chipped teeth, tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus, and eventually caught a few infections at the shelter. Despite his rough looks and unfortunate fate, he was “the sweetest and the most affectionate boy around,” but he couldn’t find a family who was willing to take care of him. Sandra saw a post from Animal Humane Society in Minnesota about Mister Willis on International Cat Day, and her heart dropped. Sandra had no intentions of getting a furry friend, especially when pets were not allowed according to her lease, but she couldn’t leave him and kept visiting him regularly at the shelter in hopes he’d find his human. After a month, she was able to convince the landlord that Mister Willis deserved a loving home. He was perfect because of his imperfections.

In just a year with Sandra, the orange tabby changed unrecognizably—he went from the “saddest” to the “happiest” cat, who is now warming hearts on Instagram with 94.4k followers.