Kitten Rescued From Busy Indiana Highway Finds Safety and Love
Late one night in June, a tiny orange kitten tried to cross a busy four-lane highway in St. John, Indiana. Darting through speeding cars, he somehow made it to a Walgreen’s parking lot — terrified, alone and desperately looking for safety.
From her car, local resident Natalie Bartuszek thought she saw a plastic bag blowing across the road. But as soon as she realized it was a kitten, she quickly pulled a U-turn, grabbed a towel, and tried to catch him before he ran back into traffic.
“He was absolutely petrified,” Bartuszek said. “He kept running away from me. He started heading back towards the traffic, and I cut him off.”
The kitten bolted under her car — and vanished. Just when she thought she’d lost him, a faint meow came from one of her wheels. To her shock, the kitten had wedged himself between the hubcap and the tire, tiny tufts of fur sticking out.
With help from her husband, Bartuszek carefully freed the terrified kitten. “He came out fighting,” she said. “He was panting and completely fluffed up.”
Too late to bring him to a shelter, Bartuszek took him home, gave him food and water, and let him rest in a quiet room. By morning, the kitten was calmer but still wary of human touch. She reached out to local rescues for help.
The next day, Whiskers of Winfield, a foster-based rescue, stepped in. At their adoption event, the kitten — now named Indy, after the dangerous road he’d survived — was still shaken and hissed at anyone who got too close. But after a bath and flea treatment, the scared, filthy kitten began to change.
“He was filthy,” said Megan Martin, Whiskers’ social media manager. “Once we washed all that off, he turned into this really cute, diluted orange kitten.”
Unlike most feral kittens who take weeks to trust people, Indy warmed up within days. “He’s just the sweetest cat in the world,” Martin said. “He has the constant sad-eyed look of ‘Puss in Boots,’ but he’s mellow, playful and affectionate.”
Today, Indy is thriving in his foster home, where he loves his cat siblings, plays with children, and finally enjoys the safe, comfortable life he deserves. His days of dodging cars are far behind him.