Unfortunately, not every four-footer has a home and some have to live and survive on the streets. Often they are barely able to do so.

Life as a stray definitely isn’t easy, especially since they’ve usually had a previous owner and know what it’s like to have a home.

In the United States alone, it’s estimated that there are around 60 million stray cats, not even counting the homeless dogs. It’s a number that was calculated thanks to telemetry studies and shelter numbers.

In any case, there are way too many animals without a place to call home.

Luckily, though, there are always some people around who do what they can to help out our furry friends in need.

One of those people is Eric Hertlein’s kind and warm-hearted grandmother from Kansas.

The woman has always had a very big heart for stray animals and has been an animal lover ever since she was born. She often comes across strays around her home, and she even decided to build a special cozy place on her porch so that the strays could have a comfy and familiar place to sleep.

When she’s home, she’ll even let a few of the stray cats in now and then! Grandma loves to take care of them, give them some food and keep the cats company.

One day, Eric realized that one of the kittens his grandmother brought in wasn’t like the others.

More often than not, Eric gets greeted by a couple of stray cats whenever he visits his grandma. There were plenty of cats again this time, but it looks like there was an intruder amongst them.

One of the animals was snuggling against the others and wasn’t a kitty, it was actually an opossum!

Eric was quite confused and a little bit shocked even, but grandma had no idea that he wasn’t a cat! Turns out that the animal has been visiting for a while now, and she even gave him a name: Tete.

“She reassured me it was one of her cats,” Eric said to The Dodo. “I told her it wasn’t what she thought it was.”

The young man then showed her that the possum looked quite different from the other cats, but it was hard to see at first because Tete first came to the house as a baby.

“I laughed for a good five minutes,” Eric recalls. “She didn’t realize what I was laughing about until I started pointing out the pointy nose and skinny tail. She didn’t realize he wasn’t a cat.”

Grandma’s reaction when she finally realized what was going on was funny and heartwarming.

“She kinda just sat there,” Eric said. “Then she got a little closer … and slowly looked up at me with the biggest grin on her face and said, ‘Well, he hasn’t bothered me yet, so I’m OK with him being here!'”

Grandma didn’t mind at all that there was a possum hanging out with her porch cats, and the other cats never minded him either.

It looks like this animal was simply looking for a warm and cozy place to hang out, and he definitely found that here.

This kind woman would take care of any stray animal – kittens and possums alike.

“She loves animals and taking care of them whenever she can,” a proud grandson concluded. “It kind of just motivates you to do better and treat other beings better too.”

Now that’s a sentiment we can get on board with!

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Source: The Dodo (Eric Hertlein)