reunion

A true Christmas miracle! A 14-week-old kitten with no eyes was rescued by the RSPCA and reunited with his half blind brother. 

As the RSPCA reports, the blind kitten, later named Gabriel, despite having no eyes, is completely healthy. It is assumed that Gabriel had the cat flue, and so it is a miracle in and of itself that he survived. 

Krissy Raine, the RSPCA inspector who rescued Gabriel, explained: "It's amazing that Gabriel survived. I took him to a vet and they believe he had cat flu which left his eyes badly damaged and they perished. But he is very healthy, he needed no treatment from the vets at all." She continued: "Even though he was from a feral colony when I took him to the vets, they were shocked by how calm and friendly he was and instantly fell in love with him. We named him Gabriel as he is an absolute angel and everyone who meets him adores him!" 

That's not all though. A second miracle happened when Gabriel was brought into the shelter. There, he met another half-blind cat who was rescued a few weeks prior from the same area. Arthur is also believed to have had the flu which damaged one of his eyes. That eye had  to be removed through surgery, but thankfully, his other eye was saved. 

When Gabriel was brought into the shelter, "[t]he brothers instantly recognised each other."

And today, they are living together in the same foster home. "Gemma couldn't believe it when she realised she had rescued his brother a few weeks before and we knew we had to reunite them. Arthur was being looked after by a foster family and they were so excited to hear that his brother had been rescued - they welcomed him with open arms too. They are both with the same foster family now, they are such calm, caring and affectionate cats - such special little angels. Now that they are back together, Arthur can guide Gabriel through life."

The brothers will now be looking for a forever home where they will hopefully be able to live together. "It's a Christmas miracle for Gabriel and Arthur - we're just so pleased that they are together for Christmas Day, it's the perfect gift for them."

We wish this pair of angels luck in their new lives and a forever home in the new year! For more positive animal stories, take a look at our collection of the best animal news stories of 2020!

Let's be frank, 2020 has been a difficult year to say the least. From rumors of a world war in January to a pandemic to a news cycle that just makes you want to turn off your TV. But... things weren't all bad. All the lockdowns had quite a good result to some portions of the population - namely, animals. 

Suddenly, we were seeing videos and news stories about animals walking around on the empty streets, swimming in empty oceans and clearer skies. Animals absolutely THRIVED this year, and we think that's something worth commemorating and celebrating. So, for the end of this year, as a special treat, we have collected 40 of our favorite most positive, wholesome, happy news stories of 2020 that are all about animals. 

This is one news collection that you won't want to turn away from, we promise.

Reunited, and it's never felt better! After 3 long years, Debra Mejeur has been reunited with her dog, and for the dog, it took no more than a single whiff of her old blanket to jump right back into her owner's arms. 

According to Yahoo!entertainment, Lola, the dog, is an especially trained seizure alert dog, and she went missing in October, having escaped from a fenced area during a family trip to Chicago. Having escaped during such an unfortunate time meant that Debra wasn't able to be there every day in case Lola came back. Despite that, for a month, Debra and her husband made regular trips to Illinois, hoping to find Lola. They "put up "lost" signs, called on the locals for assistance, and even hired a professional pet searcher," but couldn't find her. 

The chances of finding Lola were obviously incredibly low, but, in an incredible turn of events, last week, Debra got a phone call from an Illinois animal shelter and found out that her gorgeous little Labrador has been found. "I still had an ounce of hope, I guess, but the majority of me was thinking she had already crossed the rainbow bridge," Debra said. "I was just completely stunned ... I feel like I'm in a dream right now." 

Apparently, a couple had spotted Lola in the woods and gave her food and water before taking her to the animal shelter, and the reason Debra was known to be Lola's owner was because Lola was - thankfully - microchipped. Lola had lost a little weight, but overall, she is in good health. No one is sure how she survived all these years, but everyone is happy that she did. 

"I wish she could talk because I would probably give her a little lecture, too," Mejeur said. "'You're not suppose to run away. Don't do it again.'" The plan from here on out is to not use Lola as a service dog anymore. Why? Because they "plan to spoil her from here on out." And you know what, we support that. Spoil her as much as you possibly can.

Read another heartwarming dog reunion story right here.

Stories of lost pets are the most heartbreaking ones, but when these stories end happily - with a grown man's joyous tears no less - what was once heartbreaking turns to the most wholesome feel-good stories in the world. 

200 days ago, just over 6 months, a man named Pat lost his dog. As the Washington County, TN Animal Shelter Facebook post tells, he "searched and searched but couldn't find him." Blue - the adorable dog - was as good as gone in Pat's eyes, especially when Pat had to move to Texas for his work. "He thought he'd never see Blue again," the shelter says.

So, when suddenly a friend of Pat's sent him "a video of his dog playing ball in the shelter", we can only imagine Pat's joy. But what we don't need to do is imagine his joy when they finally reunited, since Pat drove 1200 miles from Texas to get his doggo, and the shelter caught it all on camera. Be prepared for tears of joy, because these pictures might just break your heart with how wholesome they are.

"This is why WE NEVER GIVE UP," the Facebook post says, and we couldn't agree more. Check out pictures and the video of their adorable reunion below, and seriously - prepare the tissues. 

Huzzah! It's another delicious cat medley segment! 

We've got quite the treat for you! 26 cats were pulled from the most up-voted cat pictures on the popular subreddit r/cats from the past week and it's been a really good cat week filled with funnies, adorable-ness, glow-ups and birthdays! 

We can't get enough of these medleys, there's a little something for everyone. Enjoy! 

This cat knows what he wants and he knows just WHO he wants! That 'who' he wanted was Erin Breean. 

Erin Breean was walking her dog, Murphy, with her boyfriend, when she noticed a furry stranger. She didn't realize at the time that this lil stranger would soon stalk her entire family for the next several days! 

Thankfully, this furry stranger we're talking about is a cat. Otherwise, this story would just be really creepy. 

Oh, our hearts! The world got to see the emotional reunion on live television! 

Janet Dupris and Courtney Bergeron, owners of Angel's Pet Grooming, were waiting anxiously outside their burning business to find out if their pet cat and parrot had survived. 

"Unfortunately we have a cat and a bird in our shop, and we haven't heard," Dupris, told WWLTV. "They opened the door and the ceiling was coming down."

Kenner Fire Department, the heroes of the day,  walking out of the building with the white cat in his arms! And if that wasn't enough, moments later firefighters returned with the parrot!

Both animals were unharmed and have been reunited, shown in the videos below!

We love real-life happy endings, don't you?

FieldHaven Feline Center in Lincoln helped bring Dexter back to his grateful family and shared this remarkable story. The center estimates there are at least 1000 cats still waiting to be reunited with their owners after the devastating wild fires in California few months ago.