Sometimes it takes a while before an animal is happy in the shelter. It didn’t take more than a few seconds for five-month-old, golden-eyed Sherman to recognize that his life had gotten better. The obviously once-loved, black kitten had been trying to escape the windy and wet days under a mobile home. He was also asking strangers to let him indoors.

Inside the shelter, Sherman showed that he had spent the first part of his kittenhood indoors. He was definitely comfortable with fluffy beds, couches and cat trees. And Sherman recognized the food bowl from a distance.

Still, Sherman didn’t know he’d narrowly escaped death. Sherman arrived a day before the snow did. Forty-eight hours later the snow would’ve been over unprepared little Sherman’s head.