Most people come home from vacation with a souvenir. Lydia Ellery found something much more special than a trinket, however.

Ellery had wanted to visit a Greek island for many, many years. So when she booked her tickets to Zakynthos, she was excited.

The young woman was amazed with the natural beauty and ancient architecture of the island. But something else about the island made her sad. There were many, many stray cats.

Whenever she left her hotel in the morning, Ellery would pass different groups of cats who were begging for food.

Many of these strays looked unhealthily thin. Others had visible wounds. She wished that she could do something for them. But she didn’t have much money and knew that there were so many.

“It was one of those, ‘I wish I could save you all!’ situations.” – Lydia Ellery.

So she did what she could. Her hotel was all-inclusive, meaning that she had easy access to a lot of food. She would sneak as much food out as possible and give it to the cats. It wasn’t much, but it was all that she could do to help them.

Then one day, as Ellery was giving out food to the cats, another woman approached her. This woman explained that she’d also been feeding the cats. But this was her last day on the island, and she was worried about one cat in particular. It was a tiny kitten living among the trash.

The woman showed Ellery this kitten, lying helplessly among the garbage bags.

It had tortoiseshell fur and was only as big as Ellery’s hand.

Ellery could tell the kitten was only a few weeks old.

She knew that the kitten couldn’t stay there. If the kitten did, then she could end up being thrown into a garbage truck.

So Ellery moved the kitten to a safe place and paid special attention to her. Every day, the kitten desperately ate any food that Ellery laid out in front of her.

Over those days, the kitten’s strength built up quickly. Soon, the kitten would run out and sit at Ellery’s feet as soon as she saw her leave the hotel.

Unfortunately, Ellery’s vacation was now coming to a close. She worried for the kitten’s safety after she left.

Ellery was becoming incredibly attached to the kitten. She even named her Agatha, after Agatha Christie. But she knew that it would be difficult to bring the kitten home. So she started looking into rescue shelters on the island. Sadly, they were all already over full with stray cats and dogs.

But Ellery kept on trying, and eventually, one of the shelters got into contact. They explained that a foster home had been located for the cat.

Over the next few days, the kitten was de-flead, de-wormed and experienced indoor life for the first-ever time.

So Ellery flew home, happy to know that Agatha was safe. But after she settled back into her life, the young woman kept on thinking about Agatha. She grew to realize that their connection was special.

So she made the decision to bring the cat from Greece to her home in the UK.

Eventually, Ellery was able to get clearance to bring Agatha over. The two were reunited, and Agatha began to settle into life in Britain.

Agatha is now happy, healthy and fully grown. Anyone who sees her nowadays can’t believe that she had such a difficult start to life!

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Source: The Dodo