“They almost sounded fake …”
A Mysterious Cry in the Storm Leads to an Unforgettable Rescue
The other day, Joseph Cinnante—an experienced dog trainer and dedicated dad—was enjoying a rare moment of quiet at home when an unexpected sound cut through the air. In a household full of dogs, children, and constant motion, Cinnante had grown used to noise. But this was something else—something faint, high-pitched, and strangely urgent.
“The cries were so faint, they almost sounded fake,” Cinnante later recalled. “I immediately thought they were birds or something else.”
Compelled by instinct, he stepped outside into a brewing hailstorm with a friend to investigate. Braving the stinging ice and wind, the two men scoured the hill behind Cinnante’s house, following the soft, desperate cries echoing through the storm.
The sound grew clearer as they approached a tangled patch of underbrush. That’s when it hit him—this wasn’t a bird. It was a kitten.
Nestled under the heavy cover, soaked and shivering, was a tiny orange kitten with wide, pleading eyes. Cinnante’s heart dropped. He couldn’t understand how this baby ended up so far from shelter, especially when his own cat, Keely, had just given birth to three kittens safely indoors.
“My first thought was, ‘How did her kitten end up all the way out here?!’” he said. “But I quickly realized this one was older—his eyes were open already and he had stripes. He wasn’t one of Keely’s.”
The mystery only deepened. Cinnante scooped up the kitten and rushed him inside, wrapping him in a towel to warm him. But something nagged at him. He and his friend returned outside to continue their search, suspecting the orange kitten might not have been alone.
And they were right.
Just ten minutes later, the pair discovered two more kittens, huddled together inside a shallow hole just feet away. Their tiny mews pierced through the wind, desperate and cold. Cinnante gently lifted them from the dirt and carried them inside to join their sibling.
But the story wasn’t over yet. While returning to the house, another faint sound floated down from farther up the hill—another kitten’s cry.
More than an hour after rescuing the first, they found a fourth baby, weak and alone, fighting to survive. Cinnante searched high and low for the kittens’ mother, possibly one of the area’s elusive barn cats, but there was no sign of her. She had either abandoned them or been unable to return.
The kittens were dangerously young—far too small to survive without a mother. But back inside, hope awaited in the form of an unlikely hero: Keely, Cinnante’s devoted mama cat, was curled up nursing her three babies when she met the four newcomers.
“At first, Keely was apprehensive,” Cinnante said. “You could tell she was confused—sniffing them, unsure of their scent. But with a little time and patience, she came around. She welcomed them like they were her own.”
It was a quiet miracle unfolding in real time.
Cinnante, who has devoted his life to rescuing shelter dogs from euthanasia and giving them a second chance through training and placement, had just launched a non-profit to expand his mission. The arrival of the kittens felt like a cosmic nod that he was on the right path.
“The week we found these babies, we had just started our non-profit to help more shelter animals in need,” he said. “We took the kittens as a sign—we were doing what we were meant to do.”
And so, four kittens—once lost and alone in a storm—found family, safety, and a new beginning.
In the weeks since, the kittens have grown stronger and healthier, thanks to Keely’s nurturing care and the loving environment created by Cinnante’s family. Their eyes sparkle with mischief, and their days are filled with purring, playing, and pouncing—just like kittens should.
Now, Cinnante is carefully seeking loving adoptive homes for the remaining four, knowing that their rescue was only the first chapter in their journey.
“She’s been such an incredible mom to her three and the adopted four,” Cinnante said of Keely. “Watching her take them in, seeing them thrive—it’s just amazing. It reminds me why I do this work.”