An “unfriendly” shelter cat showed off her soft side as she cuddled up with a visitor and refused to let her go.

Valerie, 26, from Ohio, regularly visits her local shelter to spend time with the animals looking for forever homes, and a recent trip was more memorable than usual as she met a cat who took a particular shine to her.

“I noticed as I was shifting around that she would growl so I thought that she was in pain,” Valerie told Newsweek.

“I was concerned so I started lifting her up to inspect her which was when the claws came out. It turned out that she was growling whenever she was moved from my lap.”

In a post to Reddit’s r/cats on August 9, which boasts 32,000 upvotes, Valerie explained: “I work near an animal shelter so I always swing by to see and befriend the kitties during my lunch break and this sassy, unfriendly (to the other cats) kitty refused to let me leave.

“She would mrrr and growl whenever I tried to move her.”

The video shows the gorgeous smoky gray cat, Tinkerbell, lying across Valerie’s lap, and as she tries to lift her up, the claws come out and she grips tightly to her legs before lying her head back down.

Software engineer Valerie explained the rescue shelter, One of a Kind Pets, takes in animals that have been found in “dire situations,” and she often visits to pet and play with the cats, which staff encourage.

When she had visited previously, Tinkerbell had ended up “on my shoulder and then in my lap,” so this time she visited especially got her, to give her some “loving.”

“Like before, she hopped on my shoulder and then curled in my lap,” Valerie said, and when she realized Tinkerbell was refusing to let go, “I thought it was cute and sad so I recorded a video.”

Her video, posted via her account u/Unhappy_Test6017, had a huge response from Redditors, who, naturally, insisted she adopt the adorably clingy cat.