Last month, an on-duty police officer’s walkie-talkie crackled with an unusual message. Another cop on patrol had just discovered a fluffy fugitive in a parking lot, and he needed backup apprehending the suspect.

“She was in a parking lot off a state road and kept approaching his car but then running away,” the officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Dodo. “He called me because he knew I had a soft spot for cats.”

The officer drove straight to the parking lot, where he found his coworker and an adorable gray cat in a standoff. When the responding officer pulled up, the cat was instantly intrigued by his presence.

“She came over and started trying to jump through my window, so I opened the driver’s door,” the officer said. “She jumped in and pretty quickly jumped on my lap and immediately started purring.”

While the cat, later named Karma, made herself comfortable on the officer’s lap, he scanned the area for clues about where she’d come from. There were no houses nearby, and temperatures were continuing to drop on the dark winter night, so he decided to take her home.

The officer drove Karma to his house, where the impromptu rescue soon became a family affair.

“My daughter and wife met me outside, and Karma immediately let them start petting her and purring,” the officer said. “My wife gave her a small bowl of food (all while she was sitting on my dash) that Karma ate pretty quickly and a small bowl of water.”

Karma was already weaving her way into the family’s hearts, but it wasn’t until the next day that they realized just how special their connection was. The officer had set up a cozy crate in his daughter’s room for Karma to sleep in that night, but she refused to use it.

“She ended up sleeping next to my daughter,” the officer said, “[and] that’s when I knew she more than likely wasn’t leaving.”

The next morning, a local animal control agent scanned Karma for a microchip and helped search for any missing reports from her previous family. But the sweet girl didn’t have a chip — and no one seemed to be looking for her.

The officer took Karma to the vet shortly after, where she received a clean bill of health. He continued to check local lost pet groups again for posts about Karma. When he still didn’t find any, he decided to officially adopt the lovable cat.

It’s been about a month now since Karma was rescued, and her new family is head-over-heels in love.

“I’ve had cats my whole life and I’ve never known a cat as snuggly as Karma,” the officer said. “She is such a sweet, loving kitty who loves to play and snuggle.”

The officer wasn’t expecting to add another cat to his family when he clocked in for work last month, but, in his eyes, her arrival was serendipitous.

“The night I found her, it had been a year since my wife’s grandmother passed (to the day) and about 10 months since her mother passed,” the officer said. “Call it luck, divine intervention, coincidence or ‘karma,’ but her loving, cuddly personality is what a lot of us needed.”