Our Story
Sometimes in saving them, we end up saving ourselves.
It was early 2020. COVID hadn't locked everything down yet, but the news was already saying the world was shutting down. I was still going into the city for work. Normal routine, trying to live normally while the virus spread.
Then one day, near my workplace, I heard it — a small, desperate cry. A tiny, hungry, scared kitten, calling for a mother who wasn't coming back. I heard it all day long. The next day, same thing. I had to act.
When I found her, she was filthy, shivering, and terrified. She couldn't have been more than a few weeks old. I could not turn away. I took her home, called her Lady, and gave her a second chance at a better life.
Lady didn't trust easily. She had come from the cruel streets, where the next meal was never guaranteed and humans were something to fear. For the first few days she kept her distance — watching, assessing, deciding, eating fast and retreating back to hiding. I let her set the pace, giving her the time and space to feel safe enough to get close. After a few weeks something shifted. We started playing, cuddling, and spending time together. She would let me tickle her belly and gently bite my hand. That was the moment I knew — she wasn't just safe. She was family.
And then everything changed.
The COVID quarantines started and the world shut down. No more work, no routine, no structure, no reason to leave the house. The days began collapsing into each other — and when days lose their purpose and become something you just get through, bad habits and depression find their way in.
Days went by. I didn't notice at first. But slowly it became clear — Lady had been carrying a quiet secret. One night she started meowing at the window in an insistent and unusual way. I let her in, and by morning, she had given birth.
Five kittens. Small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, eyes still closed — five new lives had joined the world.
Lady and the five kittens, my new family, had become my reason to get up. The house was full of life and the darkness had disappeared. The feeling of being needed filled the days with good energy, and every morning I woke up with a purpose. And slowly, without noticing, I found my way back. I had set out to save a small, scared kitten — and she ended up saving me.
The five kittens were playful and full of energy, practicing their hunting skills all day long. But it became too much. Five growing kittens leave a lot of mess, and every day the house looked like it had been hit by a tornado, so I had to find safe and loving homes for most of them.
Lady, Louie, and Kettem stayed, and the two brothers were inseparable! Wherever one went, the other followed, pouncing from behind doors, playfully hunting and wrestling each other until they'd worn themselves out, then settling into a grooming session before falling asleep cuddled together.
COVID had the rest of the world on pause, so it was just the three of us, and in all that time together, I stopped being just the person who fed them, and we became as close to family as a person and two cats can get. Every night they'd jump onto my bed and sleep next to me until 5 a.m., when another day full of playful adventures would begin.
But the time came to move to the big city — for me, Kettem, and Louie — while Lady stayed behind with my parents. She had claimed them as her own, and it wasn't long before the feeling was mutual.
Kettem and Louie loved going out on adventures outside.
The day before we left, I let them out for one last adventure before we moved to the big city. A couple of hours later, only Kettem came back. I searched for days, posted signs, called his name, walked the streets at night, but nothing. Louie never came back.
To this day, I carry that thought, and the blame. If I hadn't let them out that day, Louie would still be with us.
It took time for Kettem to get used to his new life without his beloved brother, and to be completely alone at times. But he slowly got back to himself. Jumping on the bed every morning, waking me up, sitting by my side all day. When I felt low, he would climb onto my lap, and stay there purring, as if he knew I needed comfort. He hears my car parking and runs to the door to welcome me with purrs while bumping his head against my legs.
Now we live happily — me, Kettem, and Amigo, the ginger kitten I pulled out of a car engine before it was too late.
Lady got a second chance. The kittens helped me get my life back. Amigo was rescued from a car engine. And Kettem — who lost his beloved brother Louie — found a new one in Amigo. Each one of us got a second chance. Let's together make sure other kats do too.
