A woman’s wrong turn on a highway ended up saving a kitten’s life. Laila D’Souza was driving down the highway when she accidentally took a wrong turn.
It was a good thing that she did because she spotted a teeny cat zipping across the busy highway. The kitten stopped in the emergency lane, and D’Souza jumped out of her car to aid it.
She could tell the kitten was exhausted as he jetted back into traffic and somehow dodged several cars. D’Souza attempted to get the kitten out of traffic.
Hiding out
The cat ended up running underneath her car and couldn’t be found. A kind gentleman stopped and tried to help find the cat.
He was convinced the car had run away. So, D’Souza decided to drive back home.
However, she did so slowly. Something told her that he might be hiding somewhere up in her car.
D’Souza, who runs an animal rescue called the Winston Memorial Foundation, pulled off of the highway and kept searching for the kitten. She heard the kitten’s cries about two hours later coming from underneath her car.
“To my surprise, he had held onto my car from underneath. Because I had a hard time locating him, I called a road aid service, and they helped get him out,” D’Souza told Love Meow.
She named the kitten Hitch and estimated that he was between 5 to 6-weeks-old. The poor kitten was shaking with fear. D’Souza took the kitten straight to the vet.
The kitten was found to be in good health. And now he had his very own home. D’Souza gave him a cozy bed and lots of good food to eat.
“He warmed up each day with some TLC and slowly started trusting humans,” D’Souza said.
Hitch turned into a happy little purr machine with a huge appetite. He was quite the snuggle bug and a very vocal kitty.
Rather than meow, Hitch would chirp and squeak when he wanted something. And he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.
“He went from being terrified of humans to demanding affection. He was one of the most vocal kittens I’d ever fostered,” D’Souza said. “He loves sitting on people’s laps, even people that he’s only met for five minutes.”
New beginnings
Hitch was introduced to the other foster cats when he was strong enough. They all hit it off right away. Eventually, Hitch was put up for adoption and sent overseas to City Kitties DC in Washington D.C., where he was placed in a forever home.
“The kitten who held onto my car from the highway to my house, flew across the world from Kuwait to Washington DC,” D’Souza said. “Life works in interesting ways, and taking that wrong highway turn was one of the best decisions I (accidentally) made.”