As Laila D’Souza drove her usual route home from work in Kuwait, she accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up on an unfamiliar road. But, as fate would have it, a tiny kitten was lost on the same highway, zigging and zagging out of traffic.
When D’Souza decided to pull to the side to help the tiny cat, both their lives changed forever.
“He stopped at the emergency lane,” D’Souza, Rescue For Winston founder in, told The Dodo. “I stopped my car to get him, but he was so terrified that he climbed into my car.”
She searched for the scared kitten for 10 minutes with no luck, then drove home slowly in the event he’d pushed himself up into her car.
“When I got home, I searched under my car once again, but there was no sign of him,” D’Souza said. “About three hours later, I heard faint meows. To my surprise, he had held onto my car from underneath.”
She called a road aid service, and they helped get him out. D’Souza put the terrified kitten in a crate and took him to the vet for a full exam.
He was well, but he was nonetheless deeply affected by what had happened to him, according to D’Souza. With a little tender loving care, he warmed up every day until he eventually began to trust others.
Since his unusual rescue, the 5-week-old kitten — now named Hitch — has warmed up to D’Souza’s foster kittens and even loves sitting on people’s laps. But it’s his little voice D’Souza loves the most.
“His signature trait is his cute squeaks that everyone falls in love with,” D’Souza said. “He loves communicating with his tiny, cute squeaks.”
Hitch has transformed from a fearful, wild kitten to an amazing love bug in only a few short weeks. Not only that, but D’Souza was also altered by his shift.
According to D’Souza, “Hitch taught me realize that certain things truly do happen for a purpose.” I frequently travel that way home, so taking the incorrect exit by accident and ending up on a different route wasn’t a coincidence.
