As soon as Karen Hendrickson heard about the stray kitten hiding amongst the rocks at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she knew she had to rescue her. It was cold and stormy, and the waves of Lake Michigan were crashing against the rocks, not far from where the kitten had taken refuge. 

“It was freezing out there,” Hendrickson, a volunteer at the Urban Cat Coalition, told The Dodo. “The waves were really starting to crash in …. and if she would have gotten wet, I don’t think she would have made it.”

But catching this kitten — a tortoiseshell who was about 5 months old — wasn’t easy.

Hendrickson and other rescuers tried for weeks to lure her out from beneath the rocks, but the kitten wouldn’t budge. So they left food and water out for her and promised to return.

Then, in early January, the weather took a turn for the worse. The temperature plummeted and a fresh layer of snow covered the ground. The waves of Lake Michigan began pounding at the rocky shoreline.

Hendrickson knew it was more urgent than ever to rescue the kitten.

She and her fellow rescuers returned to Bradford Beach. But this time, Hendrickson tried a new approach.

“I was thinking, ‘Well, it’s a kitten and they like to play,’” she said. “I didn’t have any toys on me, but I took the shoe string out of my boots and started playing with her under the rocks. I also had a bit of deli ham with me and I started feeding her a little bit of it.”

Slowly but surely, Hendrickson gained the kitten’s trust. When the kitten ventured out from her rock shelter, Hendrickson managed to grab her.

“I was so happy to get her because we’d been trying for so long,” she said. “It was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I got her.’ I was just shaking. I was so excited.”

The kitten went straight to the vet. Despite having lived out in the cold for several weeks, she was in relatively good health, Hendrickson said, although she had to be treated for fleas and worms.

She also got a name — Ruby.

“We were trying to come up with different names and a lot of people were suggesting [names related to] the lakefront or rocks or stones, and we just didn’t really like any of the names,” Hendrickson said. “Then we’re like, ‘Ruby!’ It’s just a pretty rock and she was found in the rocks. She’s like our little gem in the rocks.’”

Since her rescue, Ruby has changed into a playful, confident kitten. “She just loves attention,” Hendrickson said. “She comes running over and she’s very talkative.”

It’s taken Ruby a few months to recover fully, but that didn’t stop her from catching the eye of her new dad.

“She has a patient new papa and a new feline brother to boss around,” Urban Cat Coalition wrote on Facebook. “We couldn’t be more excited for this happy ending!”

Hendrickson said the best part of this rescue mission is knowing that Ruby is safe and well now, and that she won’t be out in the cold weather.

“That was just such a high for me,” she said. “I was so happy.”

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Source: Tampa Bay Times