Estherville, Iowa - Barney the cat hasn't had it easy. After winding up at the Emmet County Animal Shetler in Iowa, he has spent nearly a decade without a forever home...until now!

On August 13, the shelter posted Barney's story on Facebook, after which interest was similarly low as usual.

But, one person was so touched by the adorable cat and his tale that he shared a photo and some background information on Reddit.

Suddenly, the story about the feline went viral as tens of thousands of people viewed the post, leading to a flood of applications for Barney!

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Speaking with Newsweek, shelter director Kristy Henning confirmed, "We have been working on reviewing each of them, but we have chosen the family that we feel Barney would most enjoy."

The sweet shelter cat is set to meet his prospective family on Friday.

As for why Barney was stuck in the shelter for so long, Henning revealed that it's simply a matter of circumstance.

"Although Barney is handsome, healthy, friendly and outgoing, so are 100+ others in our care," she said. "It's really a supply and demand issue in most Midwest and southern states. Our supply is often astronomical, and the demand for adopting a cat or kitten is quite low."

Thankfully, the viral support has allowed Barney to be noticed so he can finally find his forever home!