He needed help 🥺
A few months back, Arizona local Caitlyn Clarke noticed a stray cat wandering through her backyard. He bolted before she could get close, so she figured that brief sighting would be the last.
But not long after, Caitlyn and her mom heard faint meows echoing from the storm drain outside. When they went to check, they found the same cat peering up at them from inside.
It didn’t take long for Caitlyn to realize he wasn’t trapped — he was hiding. Seeing how frightened he was broke her heart, so she spent days trying to earn his trust.
“At night, I would sit out in the middle of the cul-de-sac for like two hours,” Caitlyn told The Dodo.
While spending time near him, Caitlyn noticed something surprising: the cat only had three legs.
“I didn’t even know at first because he never walked past me — he stayed inside the drain,” she said. “The first time he came out, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he has three legs.’”
Then one night, during a heavy monsoon storm, the soaked and shivering cat appeared at Caitlyn’s door. Her mom immediately brought him inside, where they dried him off, fed him and made a comfortable spot for him to rest.
Caitlyn had been posting about him on Facebook and Nextdoor with no luck, so she was shocked when she discovered he had a microchip that led to an active number. When she contacted his previous owner, she learned something unexpected.
The cat — named Bambino — had been rescued as a kitten by a man named David, who’d paid for his infected leg to be amputated 14 years earlier.
“We thought he was about 5,” Caitlyn said. “We had no idea he was actually 14.”
David had cared for Bambino for seven years before giving him to a neighbor. Sometime after that, Bambino had been lost or abandoned, eventually making his way to Caitlyn’s neighborhood. David was relieved to hear Bambino was safe and happily encouraged Caitlyn to keep him, even offering to help cover some medical expenses.
For Caitlyn, adopting Bambino permanently was an easy choice. Over the past few weeks, the senior tripod kitty has settled comfortably into his new life — mostly napping, with plenty of cuddles sprinkled in.
“In the evenings and early mornings, he climbs onto my bed and wants snuggles,” Caitlyn said. “He does the classic cat headbutts and paws at me for attention.”
Caitlyn never imagined that a 14-year-old, three-legged cat hiding in a storm drain would become such a meaningful part of her life — but she’s incredibly grateful that he did.
“I’ve been saying for years that I wanted a cat of my own,” she said. “I’m glad he just showed up randomly, because I didn’t overthink it. Now I just… have a cat.”