Today’s beautiful thing is a gratifying redemption story. There’s something so moving about rescued animals, and this tiny, fierce kitten’s progress from terrified to trusting is just lovely. The rescuer is Cassandra Morphew Perchoux (A.K.A. Cass Perch) from Indianapolis, IN, and I can’t imagine how she can ever give away the animals she socializes. I’d be broken hearted. She must be a very special person to give so much of herself to animals she’s not even going to keep.

Also, murder mittens is the greatest term for cat paws I’ve ever heard. We’re going to be using that term around my house a lot! As it happens, murder mittens are pertinent in the house just now. We’ve adopted a tiny terrorist! Herself’s name is Goose, and she’s hilarious. Every day she trusts us a little more, and we’ve been making great progress in the 3 weeks since we took her in. She was found half dead in Fire Island in December. Some kind people got her medical care and fostered her for a few weeks until she was sufficiently recovered to be adopted out. She’s still afraid of everything, but she now plays like a fiend, both with us and on her own, she’s eating like a champ, and she’s asking for affection regularly. The little nugget requires a lot of patience, but we’re all doing fine!

Here’s Goosie girl:

Anyway, you can follow the lovely Cass Perch on Instagram and TikTok, and you can help support her efforts on GoFundMe.