It was a quiet Sunday morning in Queens, New York, when a Puppy Kitty NYCity (PKNYC) volunteer arrived at the shelter to find a cat carrier on the porch. They rushed to the tabby cat’s aid, who they later learned was named Mia. But it wasn’t until they read
the note taped to the carrier that they realized just how serious her situation was.
“Mia’s person was in the process of being deported …” PKNYC wrote on Instagram.
Sadly, this was not PKNYC’s first time finding an abandoned pet on their porch. But they rarely received a note detailing the animal’s backstory. And reading Mia’s felt exceptionally heartbreaking.
“I am in the process of being deported,” the note, shared on Instagram, read. “I have no one to turn to. I can’t leave her out on the street. Her name is Mia. She doesn’t get along with other cats, but she loves Churu.”
The note went on to say that Mia might have bladder problems. Which, given her situation, felt particularly telling of how loved she really was.
“[Her mom] made sure strangers knew her name, what she loved, and that she might need medical care,” PKNYC wrote. “She was losing everything, and she was still trying to protect the little life that depended on her.”
The PKNYC volunteer promptly carried Mia inside, gave her a thorough checkup and placed her in a kennel to decompress. While they still had to run tests for her bladder, Mia was otherwise healthy after six crated hours on the porch.
But after everything she’d been through, the poor girl was understandably scared and shut-down. And everyone at PKNYC was determined to help her feel comfortable again.
“She doesn’t know why the hands that fed her are gone or why the voice she knew has disappeared,” PKNYC wrote. “She only knows that one day she had a home and someone who belonged to her, and then suddenly she didn’t.”
The PKNYC crew quickly confirmed Mia’s love of Churu treats and began using them as a way of gaining her trust. It’s been working, thankfully, as Mia’s become less wary of her new caregivers. But she’s just as nervous around other cats as the note said, and being in a shelter environment has made the situation even more painstaking.
“Mia doesn’t like being around other cats, and being surrounded by hundreds of them is making it very difficult for her to decompress,” PKNYC wrote on Instagram. “She’s already had her entire world turned upside down — now she desperately needs somewhere quiet where she can finally feel safe.”
You can see Mia snacking in her kennel here:
As of now, PKNYC is desperately looking for a foster home for Mia. They’re hoping to get her out of the shelter as quickly as possible so that she can finally feel safe and begin healing emotionally.
The shelter’s staff is heartbroken knowing that Mia will likely never reunite with her family again. But they are dedicated to giving her the best life possible, making sure that her parent's ultimate sacrifice wasn’t in vain.
“Mia wasn’t left because she stopped being loved,” PKNYC wrote. “She lost her person while she was still deeply loved.”
