A kitten was ready to leave the storm drain life with his brother and emerged from hiding one day.
Last month, a physician from Corpus Christi, Texas discovered a pair of kittens living in a storm drain behind their hospital. They had seen them without a cat mom on site, ducking in and out of the storm drain.
“One of our foster volunteers works at the hospital. She was contacted by the physician that the kittens needed help,” Mary Huckabee, a board member of Coastal Bend Cat Rescue (CBCR), shared with us.
The orange tabbies were about 10 weeks old and very wary of people. “They needed to be placed in a foster home for their safety and to have any chance at socialization. They were also so hungry. It looked like they were struggling to find food.”
The CBCR volunteer went home to grab some supplies and food in hopes of coaxing them out of hiding and into safety.
Despite how skittish the kittens were, one of them named Red Ryder slowly emerged from the storm drain as he could no longer resist the smell of food. His brother, Ralphie, was very tempted but hadn’t mustered enough courage to come out yet.
“The first kitten (Red Ryder) walked right into a carrier with food inside. The second kitten was too scared for that and a humane trap was set,” Mary told us.
Within 10 minutes, the trap went off. To their surprise, a feral cat who came out of nowhere, crashed the rescue mission to sneak a meal. “There was not a little orange kitten in the trap, rather we had managed to get a very wild older cat.”
While they reset the trap and waited for the final kitten, they transported Red Ryder to his foster home and placed the feral cat in their community outreach program, so she could be spayed and properly cared for.
Red Ryder was terrified by the change of environment without his brother on the first night inside a house. As soon as they got Ralphie and reunited them the next morning, Red Ryder was able to relax, clinging to his brother, making up for lost time.
“They were so happy to be back together. They loved getting food to eat, and figured out that scratchy fingers under the chin turned out to be the best thing ever.”
After 3-4 days of socialization with their foster family, the two brothers came out of their shells and became more confident around people.
“That’s when they really started to enjoy petting and started to explore their area more. Within a couple of weeks, they turned into the sweetest cuddle-bugs,” Mary added.
“Their favorite activity was lounging on the couch with their foster mom watching Netflix.”
“Ralphie is a happy-go-lucky dude who is very chill. Red Ryder is a little more reserved, but is happy as long as his brother is near,” Mary told us.
“They are super bonded to each other and we really hope someone will adopt them together.”
The feline brothers recently graduated from foster care, and are now looking for their forever home through The Cattery Cat Shelter (in Corpus Christi, Texas), a partner rescue of Coastal Bend Cat Rescue.
With a comfortable environment, good care and plenty of food at their disposal, these scaredy kitties have transformed into affectionate attention seekers.
“They also love treats—not surprising after having to scavenge for food when their mama left them! Now these boys will not have to live the tough life of a street cat, but instead, get to be pampered house cats!”
