A woman’s heart swelled with happiness as she witnessed her foster kitten snuggled up to an outdoor cat, a testament to the unexpected beauty of companionship.

Megyn Scott-Hintz saw Garfield for the first time at her local animal hospital a few weeks ago. After finding the 5-week-old stray outdoors alone, a Good Samaritan left him off.

Scott-Hintz realized she had to take in the frail orange cat that needed a foster home. “He was flea-infested, ear mite-infested, and skin and bones,” Scott-Hintz told The Dodo.

Garfield was remarkably peaceful and laid back when she took him home. “He was obviously quite friendly with humans,” Scott-Hintz said, noting that most outdoor kittens at that age are still hissy and wild. “At that moment, he seemed to have no trouble with humans — no fear of anything.”

Garfield found solace wherever he could find it, and he quickly became friends with Captain Pickles, Scott-senior Hintz’s semi-feral porch cat. “One night, Pickles came in for some dinner and observed [Garfield],” Scott-Hintz explained. “As soon as Pickles sat down on the couch, Garfield ran up to him and smelled his nose, and that was the end of it.”

Pickles had shown little interest in any of Scott-other Hintz’s foster children, but he swiftly established himself as Garfield’s most devoted guardian. “It takes a lot for [Pickles] to want to come inside, so it was unexpected that he wanted to hang out with Garfield,” Scott-Hintz said. “It’s particularly nice that he’s looking for Garfield.”

Pickles was adopted by Scott-Hintz nine years ago. She knew he’d been raised in a cat colony since he’d been ear-tipped and neutered. Pickles had been trying to become a house cat for years, but Scott-Hintz could see he wasn’t happy.

Scott-Hintz stated, “He hid all the time, he’d never come out.” “Once he had access to the outside and could spend as much time on our porch as he wanted, he transformed into an entirely new cat.”

Garfield’s health problems turned out to be more serious than Scott-Hintz had anticipated, and he was soon back at the emergency vet.

Garfield arrived home after a rough few days, and Pickles was happy to see his baby again.

“Pickles groomed him brilliantly as soon as he returned,” Scott-Hintz added. “He told me, ‘You have to clean up your act.’ ‘You’re revolting.’ Pickles would try to bite me if I tried to convince him to stop grooming him. ‘Don’t touch the infant,’ he said. Get the hell away from him. ‘I know what I’m doing,’ she says.

“I’m curious whether Pickles sensed something was wrong with Garfield,” she continued.