As New Yorkers spend more time at home, many have looked for both compassion and companionship. 

News 12 caught up with a Gowanus woman who received both in a furry, four-legged friend. 

While much of the world was put on pause, it didn't stop 40-year-old Caroline Selia from finding love.

"I traded swiping profiles on dating sites for cat profiles," she says.

Selia explored the idea of adopting a cat and reached out for help to find her now forever furry soulmate, Bast. 

"When I emailed about Bast, and she was available for a Zoom video date, I was like OK, I gotta get ready. This could be the most important Zoom video date that I ever do," she says. 

The Zoom was thanks to Brooklyn Cat Cafe, which says these meet-and-greets are the new normal. 

"People can't come meet the cats like they did pre-pandemic, so a lot of people are opting to have a little video date with the cat so they can see what the cat's like," says Adelia Harrison, of the Brooklyn Cat Cafe.

With more and more people home, adoptions have exploded.

"We have rescued 1,500 cats... that's compared to 800 last year. We have had had almost had 950 adoptions compared to 430 last year," says Harrison.

Selia's adoption story was shared in the PetCo Foundation's Holiday Wishes Competition. 

"Her story won a $10,000 grant for the story and we won another $10,000 for the second most submissions," says Harrison.