Some people dream of the ‘cat distribution system’ choosing them, but for others, it is a bit more of a nightmare, especially if you are not particularly a cat person, and when that feline brings you to help her feral kittens.
For those not in the know, the cat distribution system refers to the phenomenon of cats or kittens showing up in an apparently random place—like your front door, the side of the road, your place of work—and the finder instantly becoming a cat owner.
There are countless stories of animal lovers celebrating as the distribution system chose them, and they instantly adopted the stray that found their way to them.
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However, in the case of Amber Reed, of West Virginia, who described herself to Newsweek as “a dog mom through and through,” she experienced “fight or flight, panic, shock, a combination of all the above” when a stray cat decided she was going to live with her.
A video shared to Reed’s TikTok account @amberkay229 in August showed Reed standing outside of her home with the gate closed, as a black-and-white cat meowed at her, demanding entry.
Caught on CCTV, Reed was texting as the cat came closer and closer to the gate, and she said that she was testing her boss, a cat lover, asking if he wanted a cat.
She captioned the video: “POV [Point of view]: the cat distribution system has found its way to you but you’re not a cat person and it scared the hell out of you.”
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Amber Reed meets Miley the cat outside. She told Newsweek her “fight or flight” response kicked in when the stray decided she wanted to live with her.
TikTok @amberkay229
As the cat meows, Reed says, “Don’t do it,” but the cat jumps up and expertly leaps over the gate, as a shocked Reed adds: “What the hell?!”
But the cat wins out in the end, as after just one nuzzle against Reed’s legs, the 31-year-old picks her up with a resigned: “Alright.”
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Reed, who works from home and owns four dogs, told Newsweek she doesn’t “have a fear of cats, per se, and I don’t hate cats, I just have trust issues when it comes to cats.”
“I have been led on by so many cute and innocent-looking cats that turn on me and ‘bully’ me or attack me out of nowhere.”
When Reed stepped out of her home to collect a delivery, she made eye contact with the cat, who has now been named Miley, and felt her “anxiety picking up” as she came closer.
“It came up to the gate and was pawing at it, rubbing up against it and meowing. I told her right then and there she was wasting her time ‘cos I ain’t petting her!”
But as she texted her boss encouraging him to take the cat, who was clearly hoping to get into her home, “I hear a MEOW, as if she was saying ‘ready or not, here I come lady!’, and I see her get into a pouncing position.”
“It was like Miley Cyrus and she was coming in hot like a wrecking ball,” Reed said, revealing how Miley got her very apt name.
TikTok users loved the clip, which has racked up almost 200,000 likes, with one commenter posting: “Congratulations on your new family member.”
“And she became a cat mom in under five minutes,” another wrote.
A third commented that “no one has ever denied the existence of the cat distribution system,” while one added: “Cat: ‘You will learn to love me.'”
Reed told Newsweek that, while she still has “trust issues” with cats, Miley has found “a place in my heart,” but “I simply just can’t keep her; it’s not fair to my four dogs, or, honestly, her.”
She searched high and low for the cat’s owners, from social media posts to local shelters and knocking on doors in her neighborhood.
After taking her to the vet to check for a microchip with no luck, staff suggested Reed try placing the cat down outside and seeing if she led her anywhere. So she tried it, and as the cat meowed at her to follow her, Reed and Miley trekked up a hill and into a bush, and “I heard some extra little noises.”
Reed realized Miley had brought her to her two kittens, and with the help of a neighbor, picked up the “spicy” feral babies and brought them to a vet, who checked them over at no cost and said they were a couple of months old.
From left: Miley relaxes at home. A neighbor is now looking after the cat and plans to keep her.
TikTok @amberkay229
She desperately tried to find homes for Miley and her kittens, but they were at risk at being euthanized at a local shelter if no one claimed them within a certain amount of time. Reed put it: “Although I don’t like cats, I would NEVER want any animal to go through that.”
Around 6.3 million animals enter shelters across the United States each year, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). While 4.1 million are adopted each years, and 810,000 strays are returned to their owners each year, some do still euthanize animals in their care.
Around 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized each year—390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats. This number is on the decline, from around 2.6 million in 2011.
Reed’s neighbor looked after Miley as they searched desperately for a home for her and her kittens, but as Reed told Newsweek, after a week with no luck, the neighbor has now decided to keep the brave mother cat.
“Miley is so loving and contagious, it would have been hard to see her not keep her,” Reed said. “Happy ending after all.”
Miley’s kittens, meanwhile, are being worked on to become used to humans to help find them a home.
And as for whether her experience has helped convert Reed to a cat person? “I’ll always be a dog mom through and through, but I’m a Miley person!”
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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