Over the years, we’ve united thousands of people with pets: couples with kittens, retirees with a dog, roommates with cats, you name it. But through all the various adoptions, one thing has always been clear: there is no one way to define a family. In today’s Happy Tail, we check in on two cats from very different backgrounds who ended up in one loving home. Here is the story of Chester and Elsa.

Chester and Elsa both came to the ASPCA in September, 2014, but that’s about as far as their similarities go. Elsa was transferred from the local city shelter (NYCACC) and at three years old, the little grey lady was confident, friendly and eager to find a home. Four-year-old Chester, on the other hand, had overcome a more difficult past. Abandoned in the Bronx, New York, Chester sustained physical trauma before being rescued by the ASPCA. He had to have his right eye removed, a laceration on his left hind leg repaired and a neuter surgery performed before he was ready to be adopted. Fortunately for both cats, Christina B. and her husband, Jim, came to the ASPCA Adoption Center at just the right moment.

“When our beloved rescue Persian passed away this summer, we were devastated,” Christina recalls. “We didn’t think we would adopt again so soon, but our home felt empty without a cat and we really wanted to rescue another animal.” She and Jim came to the ASPCA on October 1, about one month after both Chester and Elsa had arrived.

Thinking that it would be nice to adopt two pets for companionship, Christina and Jim met a few pairs of bonded cats at our Adoption Center, but none seemed the perfect fit. That’s when a volunteer introduced them to Elsa. “She was so striking, and she stepped out of her cage right onto Jim’s lap wanting love,” Christina says. Though Chester and Elsa weren’t bonded—in fact, it’s likely that they had not interacted much at all—Christina spotted the dark grey boy and was instantly intrigued.

“While Jim was rubbing Elsa, Chester, with his sweet one-eyed stare, was meowing to us across the room,” she recalls. “He stepped out, rubbed against our legs, allowed me to hold him, and they immediately felt like family!” The couple adopted both cats that day and headed home to begin a new life together in their Bronx apartment.

Though Chester and Elsa weren’t bonded or related, they soon became the best of friends. “We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly they acclimated,” says Christina. The two cats love snuggling together, playing (“they sound like wild horses running through our apartment!”) and sharing windowsills while they nap in the sun. Their favorite game is hide-and-seek, and Christina says they are a joy to watch.

“Elsa talks to all three of us constantly, and her favorite spot in the middle of the night is on our heads,” laughs Christina. “Chester is our quiet, gentle little boy who loves to have his head rubbed. We feel so blessed and we’re pretty sure they do, too!”

Congratulations to this fabulous foursome for proving that it only takes one thing to form a family: love!