Woman Shares Kitten's Incredible Recovery After Rescuing Him From Roadside

A woman's journey after rescuing a kitten from the side of the road in South Carolina has gone viral on TikTok.

In the original video, which has more than 4.5 million views, Lisa Kieffer, @lisa.kieffer, found an abandoned tabby kitten by the side of the road and rushed to pick up the shaking animal with poorly eyes.

Animal charity Best Friends reports that there were 87,604 cats and dogs rescued in South Carolina in 2021, and 7,169 were euthanized.

In a September 2022 article published in U.S News & World Report, South Carolina animal shelters were said to be at breaking point: "Too many animals, not enough space—that's been the mantra of humane societies and shelters throughout South Carolina for months."

According to the article, The Charleston Animal Society "called the situation a state of emergency, saying that almost every shelter in the state is 'at the breaking point.'"

The reasons for this "state of emergency" are cited as "the winding down of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, which at first took the burden off shelters as more people adopted pets to keep families busy or to be company for employees working from home."

Also, 75 percent of animal shelters in South Carolina do not have vets on hand, making adoption harder. State-law mandates that the animals cannot be adopted unless they are neutered, and that any animal must be in a shelter for five days before any treatment.

Similarly, mass development happening in places like Charleston County is pushing stray and feral animals out of their natural habitat and into the pathway of humans.

Kieffer captioned the video: "I found a kitten on the side of the road and I was a little excited."

TikToker carlonit4 commented: "The way she snatched up that kitten... like she found the last Pokémon. Yassssss it's finally my turn!!!"

In the comments, Kieffer said that this rescue brings her total number of cats to 12. In follow-up videos, she shows how she took home the kitten, now called Tony, gave him a bath and some food, and he appears to be thriving.

Kieffer said how, when she found him, he had a broken tail and an eye infection, but the grey fluffy tabby cat is doing well and getting bigger every day. Tony enjoys playing with his "brother," another rescued kitten called Mac.

TikToker blueberrie wrote: "I don't want there to be more abandoned kittens but it's so wild that this happens for so many people and I want to be one."

Standbridge8 commented: "I'm constantly scanning the roadways for cats, dogs, hurt animals ... sheesh I never find anything."

TikToker Joe Hodson Hots wrote: "OMG...thank you. Life changer for both of you!"

Newsweek has reached out to @lisa.kieffer for comment.