Last updated Jan 8, 2026
NYPD Midtown North / x.com
Thanks to caring New Yorkers, two stray kittens that made headlines for the notable ways they announced their presence have found forever homes with their lucky rescuers!
In a purrfect police story, Officer Frank Squillante of the New York Police Department’s Midtown North Precinct received several 911 calls just after 8 p.m. on a chilly October night. When he arrived at the site – East 58th Street and Madison Avenue – he found pedestrians gathered around a food truck. The observers said there was a cat stuck under the truck, Officer Squillante told amNewYork.
The policeman got onto the ground and didn’t see a cat underneath the food truck, but then he heard a squeaky meow and discovered a little tabby kitten crying by a tire. Officer Squillante stuck his hand into the wheel well, the kitten licked his hand, and … well, we know what comes next, right?
(Spoiler alert: Check out these heartwarming photos of Officer Squillante with the kitten, whom he named Cheech, and you know it’s a feline love story.)
The NYPD shared a viral video on X on October 27 with this caption: “@NYPDMTN officers sprang into action to save a tiny kitten trapped under a food truck, and the story didn’t end there. After the rescue, one officer couldn’t say no to those paws and gave the kitten a forever home.”
NYPD Midtown North / x.com
When the police take the kitten into their car, we hear a voice say: “Look who found you? …. This cute guy found you, beautiful! You’re so pretty. It’s OK; you’re safe.”
When the officers arrived back at their precinct, Officer Squillante knew he had bonded with the furry baby, who likely crawled under the food truck for warmth on a chilly night and could have died had people not called 911.
“It’s like I saved his life, because if we had never gone there, if nobody ever called, who knows what would have happened with this cat?” the officer told reporters. “When the food truck closed down, they could have driven away. The cat could have been stuck under there, God forbid, got run over.”
Officer Squillante took Cheech, estimated to be about 5 weeks old, to the ASPCA for an exam, and he knew he was a smitten kitten. He had never owned a cat before, but he felt a calling to give this kitten a home.
“Everyone was pretty much telling me that the cat finds you; you don’t find the cat,” the officer told reporters. “It was a sign that we are meant to be connected together.”
And of course, we cat lovers rallied around the officer and welcomed him to Club Cat.
“The cat community was very welcoming,” Officer Squillante told reporters. “I’ve done nothing but get gifts and help and advice, and it’s really an amazing community.”
Yes, we cat people are an amazing community indeed, aren’t we?
NYC Subway Rescue
Just about two months before Cheech’s rescue, another New York City kitten made headlines nationally. This adorable kitten – a tabico, which has both orange and brown tabby markings with white – wandered onto the subway train during the last week of July. A video caught the kitten nonchalantly stepping over the gap between the platform and the subway train, and curiously walking onboard to make her rounds with riders.
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Betsaida Mercado, a passenger, was taking the train from her Harlem neighborhood to her workplace in downtown Manhattan. She heard the squeaky meows and saw the passengers smiling at the 2-month-old kitten wandering around the train car. Nobody claimed the fuzzy baby, so Mercado spontaneously decided to scoop her up and take the subway back to Harlem with the kitten!
She brought the baby home and named her Emmie – a nod to MTA, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority – and took her to the vet, who confirmed that the kitten has no microchip and was free to be adopted. Meanwhile, the video taken of the subway kitten had gone viral on social media, and the clinic staff instantly recognized her.
“The minute we walked in, everyone knew her story,” Betsaida told ABC News. “Everyone wanted to take a picture of her like, ‘Oh my God, it’s the Insta-famous cat.’”
Betsaida raised more than $3,000 through an online fundraiser to raise money for Emmie’s vet care, but she says it was too much and donated the excess to a few Manhattan animal shelters. Emmie is now a happy, pampered kitten, and living with her human mom and 13-year-old dog brother, King.
Aren’t these sweet rescue stories? It looks like the Cat Distribution System really struck the Big Apple!
There’s something special, and almost mystical, about cats in New York City – not only in the high-profile rescues that often happen, but in the city’s love for felines. Check out our story about the new book Shop Cats of New York, a colorful hardcover that profiles 45 beloved cats who live at businesses in New York City and attract many admiring customers. This wonderful hardcover book is full of colorful photos and stories about these fabulous felines.
