In the spring of 2025, our clowder suddenly became much busier than usual. In April, mother cat Penny gave birth to her kittens, and our little courtyard filled with tiny paws, games, races and all the worries that inevitably come with kittens being born in a feline colony. Among them was a little black-and-white boy who stood out: he was healthy, surprisingly chubby by the standards of a kitten born on the streets and, above all, unbelievably sweet. Basically, he looked like a tiny meatball with legs. So, demonstrating our usual sophistication when it comes to naming cats, we called him Polpetta — “Meatball” in Italian 🐱
Polpetta spent his days playing with his siblings and exploring every corner of the courtyard. Meanwhile, we had done our best to make the area safer, installing protective netting and reducing every risk we could identify. But there was something we knew no amount of netting could change: however carefully managed and protected, a feline colony can never be the ideal place for a kitten to grow up. The road is still nearby, unexpected dangers are everywhere, and it only takes a moment for an apparently safe situation to become dangerous. That’s why, whenever a socialised kitten is born in the clowder, our hope is always the same: to find them a home.
Apparently, however, Polpetta had no intention of waiting for us to handle the matter. He had already assessed the situation, considered his career prospects as a colony cat and concluded that domestic life offered considerably better terms and conditions. There was only one minor detail left to sort out: finding a suitable human.
Then, one day, Sadije walked past the courtyard. Polpetta saw her and evidently decided that the selection process was over. We don’t know exactly what criteria he used, but we suspect her kind face immediately passed every quality check. All that remained was to make sure she noticed him.
And Polpetta had a plan. He stood up on his hind legs like a tiny acrobat and made himself impossible to ignore. We have no idea whether he had rehearsed the performance beforehand or whether it was simply natural talent, but the result was flawless: Sadije fell in love with him almost immediately ❤️
At that point, Polpetta had essentially completed his own adoption procedure. Sadije decided to open her home to him and give him everything we had hoped he would find since the day he was born: safety, a family and plenty of love. That left us with the easy part. We provided his initial care, the necessary checks and parasite treatments, preparing our little strategist for the new life he had, with remarkable initiative, arranged entirely by himself.
His move also came with a change of name: Polpetta became Charlie. A rather more distinguished name for a respectable house cat, although to us a part of him will probably always be that chubby little meatball racing around the courtyard with his siblings.
Today Charlie lives with Sadije, surrounded by all the affection he had apparently decided he deserved when he was barely bigger than a handful. And whenever we think about his story, we can’t help smiling, because among all the kittens we’ve helped find families, he belongs to a rather special category: those who basically took care of the entire process themselves 😼
We would have searched for someone who could love him and keep him safe. Charlie simply saved us the trouble by identifying that person himself, stopping her at precisely the right moment and deploying his most effective weapon.
Two tiny hind legs, an irresistible face and a perfectly executed plan. Many of our rescue stories involve emergencies, medical treatment and long periods of waiting. Charlie’s reminds us that sometimes fate also has a wonderful sense of humour: a little kitten born in a clowder watches someone walking past his courtyard and somehow decides that she is going to be his family. And fortunately, Sadije understood the message. Have a wonderful life, Charlie. Considering how efficiently you organised the beginning, we’re fairly confident you can handle the rest. ❤️🐾