A kitten who was discovered alone under a car, turned out to have escaped from his litter and was due for a reunion.
Last month, Mellissa, the founder of Tiny but Mighty Kitten Rescue (in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada), received a call about a kitten needing urgent help. A Good Samaritan had found him outside alone in the freezing cold.
"We had weather alerts for severe cold warnings that evening, so it was a miracle that this little kitten was found just in time," Mellissa told Love Meow. "They dropped him off to me later that evening as soon as I got off work."
She told the finder to keep an eye out for his mom and siblings, worrying that they might still be outside braving the cold.
"The kitten arrived and was naturally quite unsure of me (and humans in general), which made it clear that he was likely born outside. He weighed 1.3 pounds and was estimated to be 5-6 weeks old," Mellissa shared with Love Meow.
"It took him a couple days to start to trust me before he decided that it was safe to explore the kitten room and all of his new toys."
Once the little guy warmed up to his human, he came out of his shell and activated his purr motor. "He loved belly rubs and would purr his head off in contentment."
Two days after his arrival, Mellissa was contacted by another rescue, Barking Beauties Cat Rescue (in Ottawa), who had a surprising update on the kitten.
"They told me they may have my foster baby's mom and three siblings in their care," Mellissa told Love Meow.
As it turned out, a week prior to the kitten's discovery, volunteers of Barking Beauties Cat Rescue, were working to save a feline mother and her litter of four stowed away under a deck in Cornwall. One of her kittens escaped and couldn't be found despite their best efforts to locate him.
"We continued to search for the little one, but it became increasingly apparent that we were not going to find him," Laura of Barking Beauties Cat Rescue shared with Love Meow.
They got the rest of the family into foster care, but never stopped looking for the remaining kitten. Days later, they learned about a kitten rescued from the cold that fit the description of the missing littermate. "Someone found him under a parked car."
"After lots of back and forth to try to figure everything out, and reaching out to the man who brought the kitten to me, we discovered that my foster kitten was found barely two minutes away from where the other rescue had trapped the mom and three kittens (who are the same age)," Mellissa told Love Meow.
"It made us 100% certain that this kitten in my care was in fact the missing kitten that they were unable to trap."
Both rescues agreed to reunite the little "escape artist" with his family as soon as possible, so they would have a better chance of reaccepting him.
There was a massive snow storm the next morning, but around evening time, Mellissa was able to drive the kitten to meet with Jackie, a volunteer of Barking Beauties Cat Rescue, who then safely transported the little guy to be reunited with his family in his new foster home.
They officially named the kitten Pontiac, in honor of Betty White's beloved Golden Retriever. As soon as he came out of his carrier, he was greeted by his cat mother, Cleopatra, who started cleaning his face as if to welcome him home.
His siblings (Mystique, Storm and Nahla) came up to him and offered some sniffs and snuggles.
"They instantly knew who he was and he looked incredibly happy to be back with his family. It was incredible how it all turned out," Mellissa told Love Meow.
It took a village, but Mama Cleopatra now has all four of her little kitties back in a row. They are thriving in their foster home, away from the elements of the outdoors.
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