Méné spent almost two years at his shelter refusing to trust a single human. Then he found Flamme. A photo of the two cats curled up together, posted to Reddit’s r/aww on November 9 with the caption “New couple alert at our shelter,” reached sixth place on the forum by the following afternoon.
The names are French: Flamme means flame, and Méné means minnow, translations the poster supplied in the post title. The poster, who works with the shelter’s cats, spent the comment section answering questions about how a shy cat ends up with a cagemate, and what happens to a couple like this at adoption time.
A cat who wanted a friend, not a person
Méné is the more fragile half. Asked whether he had come from a home with lots of other cats, the poster wrote: “Yes and he has been with us for almost 2 years now. He just can’t trust us. I only touched him once.”
Other cats are a different story. The poster described Méné as one of the cats who “want a friend and they are always looking for one.” Others fixate on one particular cat for reasons nobody can explain, and some cannot stand any of them, like a resident the poster named only as “our Bobby.”
How a shelter plays matchmaker
Pairing cats is not luck. The poster explained that staff let some cats roam free during the day to see who gets along, and sometimes look for a cagemate whose character matches. “That needs a lot of knowledge and experience with cats,” the poster wrote, crediting two colleagues who are experts in cat behavior and “just know.”
That approach lines up with what researchers have described about cats. Although most cat species are thought of as solitary, free-living domestic cats often form colonies when food and shelter allow it, and pet cats are generally content to share space with other cats for company. Personality varies widely: studies built on owner surveys sort cats into traits such as shy and anxious, curious and active, bossy, impulsive or affectionate. A cat in the bossy group may need to be the only pet in a home, while an anxious one often wants a hiding place and quiet corners.
The poster described the same spread at the shelter. “They are like humans; some love company, others love being alone,” the poster wrote, adding that some cats there would love to be an only child and others want to be the boss.
Will Flamme and Méné be adopted together?
One reader asked the obvious question. The answer was hopeful but honest: “We always try our best not to separate them. It all depends on the situation.” Then came the line that got the biggest laugh in the thread: “Let’s just say that some cats don’t believe in monogamy.”
For a cat like Méné, a companion can matter more than usual. Adult cats that missed early contact with people tend to trust only the few they bonded with and stay wary of strangers, which makes a familiar feline friend a steadying presence during the upheaval of a move. Kittens are most open to human socialization between about three and nine weeks of age; after that window, winning a cat’s confidence takes far longer.
What readers said
Commenters mostly wanted the couple to stay a couple. “I hope they find a loving home where they can stay together,” one wrote. Another offered a fresh job description: “This is my emotional support cat and his emotional support cat.” A third thought the pair looked like they had just “hooked up for a one night stand,” which the poster said they could see.
The thread joins a run of shelter-cat stories that have done well with readers, including Reddit’s photos of adopted strays that turned into fluffy puffballs and the Shrewsbury cat retirement village raising money for six new cottages. For reading the signals between cats like these two, our guide to what a cat’s raised tail means covers the most visible one.
Méné has been waiting almost two years. As of November 10, he is waiting with Flamme.
Further reading
Illustrative image. Image: Ildar Sagdejev (Specious), CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.
