'It Was Destiny': Woman Rescues Kitten Abandoned on Busy Rainy Highway

A devoted cat owner has described the moment fate placed her in the right place and right time to come to the rescue of a ginger kitten left abandoned in the middle of a busy rain-soaked highway.

Fred the cat will never know how close he came to losing his life at such a tender age. He'll also never know the way his owner risked life and limb to rescue him.

His story went viral on social media after his owner, Sarah, from SouthEast Georgia, posted to Reddit. At the time of writing, she has earned over 11,000 upvotes.

According to the ASPCA, 6.3 million companion animals enter animal shelters in the U.S. every year. Cats account for approximately 3.2 million of those animals.

Fred wasn't that fortunate. Instead, he was left to fend for himself in the most dangerous of settings and as a tiny kitten who could barely even see.

It's hard to imagine what might have happened to him had Sarah not spotted him while she was making her way to a nearby restaurant.

Speaking to Newsweek, the avid animal lover said: "It was destiny. The day that I found Fred I was pretty adamant that I would eat lunch at work that day but my co-workers convinced me to go."

Sarah said that as soon as she saw the stricken kitten, shivering and wet, stuck in the road with cars racing around and on top of him, she sprang into action.

"I didn't think twice. As soon as I heard an animal was in trouble, I reacted," she said. "My co-worker knew how I was going to respond too, because he tried to grab my arm to prevent me from going out into the road. I seem to have a bit of a reputation for saving creatures."

Despite taking charge of the situation almost immediately, Sarah admits her heart was "definitely racing" as she stepped onto the highway to halt traffic and take the kitten to safety.

She said it remains something of a mystery as to how exactly Fred ended up there.

"I couldn't find any other evidence of a mother cat or any kittens," she said. "There is a neighborhood behind the restaurant but it seems unlikely that Fred somehow managed to walk the distance from the home through the restaurant parking lot and into the road."

Sarah's immediate focus, however, was on trying to warm Fred up and comfort him following the ordeal. Incredibly, despite the stress and danger that surrounded him, he had escaped with only a small scratch on his nose and was otherwise healthy. Eventually it was agreed that Sarah's co-worker would take him home.

Though she was pleased Fred was safe, Sarah admitted she later went home and cried. "I wasn't sure what the reason was and other people have speculated that perhaps it was the trauma of the situation but if I'm being honest, it was probably also in part to the fact that he wasn't with me," she said.

Thankfully for both Sarah and Fred, fate intervened again a few months later, when her colleague called to say he could no longer look after the cat. "I was elated," she said. "I literally told him I could be at his house in 15 minutes."

Fast-forward to today and Fred is now happy and healthy in his forever home with Sarah by his side. "Fred and I have an incredible bond now," she said. "I lost my mom 6 months ago and he seems to have a 6th sense of when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by grief."

"He will come curl up next to me or he will stare at me and reach out his paw until I lift him up and hug him. I am so grateful I found him. He brings me so much comfort."

Sarah keeps fans updated on Fred's antics via the Instagram page RedRedFredFred.