Late one rainy night in Costa Mesa, California, Siena was startled awake by a strange sound outside her apartment — something that sounded almost like screaming.
“It was around 1 a.m., and I couldn’t tell what it was,” Siena (who preferred not to share her last name) told The Dodo. “But I had a feeling it might be a kitten.”
She stepped outside to investigate, but the sound had stopped. Unsure where to look, she decided to try something — she let out a small “meow.”
Instantly, the cry returned.
Following the sound, Siena discovered a tiny kitten standing alone on top of an electrical box, drenched and trembling.
“It was raining, and I was like, ‘OK, I can’t leave her out here,’” she said.
Siena gently scooped the kitten up, wrapped her in her shirt, and brought her inside. Once safe and warm, she cleaned the crust from around the baby’s eyes and offered her some leftover food she kept for neighborhood strays.
Within minutes, the exhausted little cat curled up and fell sound asleep.
“She really didn’t fight me,” Siena said. “I think she was just so tired. I don’t know how long she’d been out there.”
The next morning, Siena learned from a few local restaurant workers that they’d seen the same kitten wandering the street days earlier but hadn’t been able to catch her. The thought of the baby surviving alone for that long broke Siena’s heart.
Although Siena would’ve loved to keep her, her long hours as a tattoo artist made it hard to give a kitten the attention she deserved. So she called up a friend who adored cats — and it turned out to be the perfect match.
Her friend took the kitten in as a foster, but it wasn’t long before she decided she couldn’t let her go.
Now named Ashtray, the once-lonely kitten fits right in with her new furry siblings — cuddling with her cat and even the family dog.
“She just looks so at home and happy,” Siena said.
And while Siena misses the little baby she rescued that night, she couldn’t be happier knowing Ashtray has finally found her forever family — safe, warm, and loved.
