On Friday Evening I was walking on the sidewalk next to the river with my friend Tin. We were playing Pokemon Go, and at one point heard a pathetic meowing up ahead. We came upon a tiny Kitten looking very disoriented and obviously scared. The thing was so young it couldn't even walk fully upright. I'm not a cat person, and Tin is allergic to them, but with no owner in sight I knew I couldn't just leave it there.

We searched the area to see if we could find its mom or any other kittens, with no luck. There was a construction helmet sitting on the ground nearby, so I placed the kitten in it so I could take it home. The little one meowed almost the whole way back, and was clearly distressed.

I got home and messaged a few people who own cats, but no one had dealt with such a young kitten - it wasn't even weened off its mother. I learned that cow's milk would not be good for it, and I had nothing else in my apartment to feed it. The stores were closed since it was late, so I had to hope it would make it through the night so I could take it to the vet in the morning. I arranged a towel in a drawer and it spent the night there in my living room so the meowing wouldn't bother me or my flatmate. We also named it Meo (Vietnamese for cat) before going to bed. Here it is next to my hand for comparison:

The following morning the kitten was fine, though surely very hungry. I packed her (I think it was a her) into a backpack, along with a hand towel for cushion, for the drive to the vet in District 2.
I had hoped to be able to bring Meo to the rescue shelter, also in D2, but I was told over the phone that they were full. The vet fed her some powdered formula mixed with warm water and gave me a tube so that I could feed her later. I posted in the expat Facebook group asking if anyone would be able to foster her until room opened up at the shelter and took her back home.
That afternoon I went to a friend's apartment to cook for the Thanksgiving potluck we were going to later, so Meo came along. By this point I had been contacted by a woman who was already fostering a few cats and wanted to take over caring for Meo. She would pick her up later that evening. I fed Meo regularly and she zonked out in a nook on the couch.
Even though I'm not a fan of cats, she was undeniably adorable. Any time one of us lay down on the couch she'd snuggle up into the crook of your neck and purr. We headed to the potluck later, where Meo got some attention from the host's two kids and a few other guests. A little later the foster parent came and picked her up, so I said farewell to Meo. I won't lie, I was a little sad, but with my work schedule and the amount of traveling I have coming up there's no way I could've kept her, and I definitely don't want an adult cat. Still, it felt good to have saved her from the street - she was very healthy and quite clean so she obviously hadn't been lost for long, but there's no way of knowing how she ended up there. It made for an interesting 24 hours, to say the least.