A young kitten who stayed with his toys while waiting for his owner to come back after being abandoned outdoors has broken hearts online.

A rescuer who saves cats across Brooklyn, New York, under the name Paws of Hope NYC, shared the kitten's story after she herself appeared shocked at the casual cruelty, despite working with abandoned cats every day.

In a video watched over 550,000 times, shared to her TikTok account @pawsofhopenyc, the kitten can be seen sitting in his cat tree, which was left leaning against the outside of a building along with cat food and toys.

He jumps out of the tree and cautiously approaches his rescuer when she calls out to him, and she eventually gets him into a cat carrier with the help of tinned food.

Her voice breaks with emotion as she thanks a passerby for her help, and she appears in disbelief as she says, "Poor baby. He's young, maybe four or five months old."

While the kitten was now in safe hands, and the video goes on to show him looking happy and comfortable in the care of his rescuer, his story could have taken a seriously dark turn.

"Abandonment is a cruel fate no animal should suffer. This ginger kitten was perched on a cat tree, surrounded by his personal belongings, anxiously awaiting the return of his owners," she wrote in the caption.

"The pain in his eyes speaks volumes. He's safe with me now. Every share, every dollar, and every act of kindness brings us closer to changing more lives."

TikTok users were devastated by the short clip, and thousands flocked to the comments to share their support for Paws of Hope's work.

One user wrote, "The way he just stayed there with his things," with a crying emoji, to which the rescue worker replied: "He was counting on his owner to come back. Too bad they left him and went on about their day while I cried and didn't sleep the first few nights."

Another commenter wrote, "I will NEVER understand how someone can do this. Thank you for saving this precious baby."

Some shared sympathy for whoever abandoned the kitten, with one TikToker writing, "You can tell he was loved at some point, the cat tree, and they left the food too." Another person suggested it appeared that "someone's parent didn't let them keep it, and they did what they could so their kitty could feel comfortable."

However, the seasoned rescuer was having none of it.

She replied to one commenter who suggested the owner could be in danger and abandoned the cat outside the building as a last resort by saying: "They could've left him inside the staircase. If this person was in danger, then they also put the cat in danger by leaving it outside across a busy street and a highway."

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), around 3.2 million cats end up in shelters across the United States each year.

Of all 810,000 animals who enter shelters as strays each year, only around 100,000 cats are returned to their owners.

Thankfully, Paws of Hope shared in an update on Instagram that the kitten, now named Promise, has already found a safe new home.

In a post showing Promise getting cuddles in his forever home, she wrote, "I'm thrilled to share the amazing news that Promise was officially adopted by his foster mom, who immediately fell in love with him."

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