A few weeks ago, North Carolina resident Sarah Arant competed in a cycling race. When the competition was over and she was biking around the park to cool off, she spotted a tiny black kitten hiding in a bush.
At first, Arant thought that maybe the kitten belonged to someone who lived nearby. She started asking around about the cat, but no one claimed her.
Sarah Arant
Arant talked to the park’s groundskeeper, who told her that people dump their unwanted pets in the area all the time. It broke Arant’s heart to think about someone abandoning the tiny baby.
Arant knew she couldn’t just leave the kitten to fend for herself. She was determined to take care of her, but didn’t know if she’d be able to provide the best environment for a cat as she lives in a van with two dogs.
Sarah Arant
So she decided to travel around the park and show people the kitten in case anyone would be interested in taking care of her.
“I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s go for a little bike ride,’” Arant told The Dodo. “And the only way to transport, unfortunately, on a bike is to put her in my jersey.”
But Arant wasn’t sure whether the kitten would be open to riding around on her bike. She cautiously tucked her into her shirt and started pedaling, prepared to stop if the cat didn’t like it.
“If she’s not stoked on it, I will find out very quickly,” Arant said. “But I stuck her in, zipped her up, and anytime I did that and started biking, she would start purring. And so I was like, ‘Oh, I actually think she is enjoying this. She would just, like, cuddle in and just purr.”
The kitten actually loved biking so much that she’d start meowing in protest whenever Arant stopped.
“I did bike around the race area to different people just being like, ‘Hey, does anybody want a kitten? It loves to bike ride,’” Arant said.
Sarah Arant
Before long, a man walked up to Arant and said he and his wife were interested in fostering the kitten while Arant continued to look for the cat’s permanent home. Arant was relieved that she’d found someone to take care of the kitten, even temporarily — though the family ended up not wanting to say goodbye.
Sarah Arant
“Probably within an hour of him taking the kitten home, he texted me and was like, ‘Yeah, so this was a foster fail,’” Arant said.
The kitten’s new family decided to name the furry cycling enthusiast Ryder. Ryder has settled right into her new home and has been enjoying getting to know her new cat siblings. Arant is not surprised at all that Ryder has been doing so well in her new environment.
Sarah Arant
“I had no doubt in my mind, because she was just such a cool cat,” Arant said. “[She] was just down for anything. Down for a good time.”
