A tiny kitten was found alone in a cardboard box, left out on a public green with no mother or siblings in sight. Now she spends her days bossing around a gentle giant of a dog, who outweighs her many times over.
Dove TreeCredit: The Stray Cat Club
Dove's story began in the saddest of circumstances. This little girl was discovered completely alone, tucked inside a cardboard box and left behind on a public green. There was no mother and no siblings anywhere to be found, and however she came to be there, this tiny kitten had been abandoned, left to face the world entirely on her own.
Kindness found her just in time. A passerby came across the little one, could not bear to leave her alone, and carried her to someone they knew who had cats and could keep her safe for the moment. That person put out an appeal for help, and when The Stray Cat Club, a cat rescue charity in South East London, saw it, the rescue stepped in without hesitation.
When Dove arrived in the rescue's care, her condition made clear just how much she needed them. She weighed only two hundred and eighty-eight grams, so impossibly small that at first everyone assumed she was two or three weeks old. It soon became clear that she was actually closer to five weeks, and seriously malnourished.
Safe and warmCredit: The Stray Cat Club
It was a sobering realization. At an age when she should have been growing, playing, and learning alongside her mother and littermates, this brave little girl had instead been quietly surviving at a fraction of the size she was meant to be.
All of that is behind her now, because Dove landed exactly where she needed to be. Surrounded by people determined to help her thrive, she has been given regular meals, warmth, and round-the-clock care, including the gentle, hands-on tending a fragile kitten requires.
A much-needed bathCredit: The Stray Cat Club
Dove is loving her meals, tucking into each one with the enthusiasm of a kitten who is finally getting everything she needs. Most of all, she is steadily gaining weight. "Dove is safe, absolutely loving having regular meals and, most importantly, steadily gaining weight," The Stray Cat Club shared with LoveMeow.
For the people watching over her, every gram gained is a small victory. And as she starts to feel better, something delightful has begun to happen: her funny little personality is shining through more and more, a sure sign of a kitten who feels safe enough to be herself.
Never missing a meal nowCredit: The Stray Cat Club
This pint-sized charmer, it turns out, has plenty of spunk to spare. One of her new favorite pastimes is bossing around the resident dog, a gentle giant many, many times her size. "We're also beginning to see her funny little personality shining through more and more each day, including bullying the resident 40kg dog," the rescue shared.
Watching a tiny scrap of a kitten fearlessly order around a forty-kilogram dog, nearly a hundred and forty times her weight, is enough to make anyone laugh. It is also a joyful reminder of how far she has already come.
Bossing her gentle giantCredit: The Stray Cat Club
Dove still has plenty of growing and catching up to do, and no one pretends otherwise. But she is not doing it alone, not anymore. The people caring for her put it plainly, in words addressed straight to her. "You've got plenty of growing and catching up to do, little one, but you've got us behind you every step of the way," the rescue shared.
Behind her is an entire team of devoted rescuers giving her all the time and patience she needs. Little by little, it is working, and the scrap of a kitten from the cardboard box is turning into a bright, feisty little girl, a bit stronger and a bit bolder with each passing day.
Finally able to restCredit: The Stray Cat Club
Not long ago, Dove Tree was a two-hundred-and-eighty-eight-gram kitten alone in a cardboard box, surviving at a fraction of the size she should have been. Now she is warm, well fed, and gaining by the day, with a whole team in her corner and a giant dog to boss around.
Warm and cozyCredit: The Stray Cat Club
Share this story with your friends. View more on Dove Tree and The Stray Cat Club, a cat rescue charity in South East London, on Instagram @thestraycatclub and Facebook, or learn more at straycatclub.org.uk.
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