Animal Rescue Stories: Adopting A Stray Kitten in Romania

Meet Rocky, the newest addition to Jungle Jim’s van crew. Despite being the smallest member, Rocky is the most precious cargo aboard the van. He joined the gang in August of 2022, becoming the youngest brother to Leo the Cane Corso and Hamish the British Shorthair.

The gang

Rocky’s Story

Two weeks into the Romanian leg of our trip. Whilst we were wild camping along the Râul Arieş river in Turda, near Cluj-Napoca in North-western Transylvania. A stray kitten appeared out of nowhere; it had followed our cat, Hamish to the van. We fed him and didn’t know what to do with him.

 Our first thoughts were: he wandered away from his family, and he would soon return to them. We worried that if we brought him into the van with us for the night, he would be lost, so we left Hamish’s cat carrier out for him, so he had shelter if he needed it, along with food and water. We had a sleepless night, tossing and turning in our warm beds worrying about the little kitten outside in the cold, around 3 am Barry went out to try and find him but in the darkness of the night, it looked like he had gone off on his way, as he was nowhere to be seen.

A few weeks after we found him

That morning when we woke up, all we could think about was this little kitten. We were just so upset that he had disappeared all on his own, just a little man out in the scary world trying to survive. We wondered where he had gone and if he was safe. There was nothing else we could do and that was the end of it, or so we thought. Whilst sitting and enjoying our morning coffee, looking out over the river, we suddenly heard it: the faint cat cry which brought us sudden relief! How such a small, squirrely noise could evoke such strong emotions?

From that moment on we knew that the kitten hadn’t left us at all! Instead, he had crawled up into the mechanisms underneath the van and made himself a comfortable hideout. We were so happy to see the little guy.

Where we found Rocky

We instantly took him into our van; fed him, bathed him, and gave him a warm place to rest. The next few days we spent taking care of him and we introduced him to our big dog, Leo. Reacquainted him with our cat Hamish and took him to the vet. All our travel plans were halted as we made it our priority to look after this tiny stowaway.

Whilst waiting on animal shelters to get back to us we potty trained him, played with him, and gave him lots of love and attention. It’s fair to say that we fell totally in love with him in the weeks that followed. When the shelters finally got back to us to tell us they couldn’t take him; it didn’t matter anymore because he was one of us now. Another adventurer joined Jungle Jim’s pack. Since Rocky’s (that’s what we named him because he’s a survivor) arrival, he has brought excitement, and adventure to every journey and destination we have been to. He brings a renewed energy and dynamic to our family and fits right into Vanlife. He already loves to walk, hike, and explore the outdoors; that’s when he’s not napping with his two big brothers, of course.

Every mile we travel now is filled with so much more love and joy. It’s a tight squeeze in Jungle Jim but what we lack in space we make up for in love.

Rocky the adventure cat

How to help and adopt a stray 

If you are travelling and come across a stray that is in dire need of help, please try to help them. For more information on how to help or adopt please read the following Guides:

How to adopt a stray when travelling & how to help stray animals when travelling.

How to support Romanian stray rescues 

Follow the journey

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