What began as a routine workout session quickly became an unexpected rescue mission when a TikTok user named Lexi heard a faint meow during a video recording at her home gym.
Lexi, a TikTok shop affiliate, had just set up her camera to film a fitness video when she heard the sound. At first, she ignored it. But the second meow made her stop. “I just knew the mom wasn’t there anymore,” she told PEOPLE. “We had found a female cat dead outside, and I panicked. I realized it had been more than two days.”
Lexi and her family were familiar with the stray cat. The feline had never lived with them but often appeared near their barn over the past year. “She would show up for a few days, then disappear for a month,” Lexi said. “She belonged to no one and everyone.”
The cat had shown no signs of being pregnant. Her thick coat and distant behavior helped her blend into the surroundings. “She never got close to us,” Lexi said. “If she was pregnant, we didn’t know.”
Lexi’s goal that day was simple: film a fitness routine and promote soft dumbbells. But before her first exercise, she heard the kittens’ cries. “I was getting ready to do split squats when I heard them,” she said. “Everything changed instantly.”
The loss of the stray cat was especially difficult for Lexi’s children. “My daughter is three, and she was very attached,” Lexi said. “She used to chase the cat around. It was heartbreaking to tell her the cat wasn’t coming back.”
The kittens had likely been alone for over 48 hours. Lexi found them around midday on Monday. “We found the mom on Saturday morning,” she recalled. “So they had been without her for a long time, and they were very small.”
The kittens were hidden inside the undercarriage of the family’s side-by-side vehicle. “They couldn’t get in or out,” Lexi explained. “They were just stuck in there, waiting for their mom.”
With no prior rescue experience, Lexi acted quickly. She went to the closest store and bought the only food available — wet kitten food. “I hoped they would eat it,” she said. “And they did.”
Lexi shared the rescue on TikTok using the same video she had filmed for her fitness routine. The response was overwhelming. Viewers flooded her comments with support and advice. They taught her about kitten milk replacement, bottle feeding, and “gruel” — a mix of wet food and formula. “I learned so many new terms,” Lexi said. “But the kittens were eating, they were warm, and they were safe.”
Though Lexi loves animals and has cared for cats before, keeping the kittens wasn’t possible. “We have two dogs, and it just wasn’t an option to take in four cats,” she said.
One of the kittens was adopted by a local woman whose nursing cat had just weaned her own litter. The other three went to someone experienced in bottle-feeding. “I was really happy the three could stay together,” Lexi said.
Most of the TikTok feedback was positive. Commenters praised her efforts and even joked that she had been “chosen” by the so-called “cat distribution system.”
Still, some criticized her response, especially those unfamiliar with the limitations of rural life. “People don’t realize that I can’t get overnight kitten formula unless I pay $40,” Lexi said. “But I did my best.”
What stayed with her the most were the messages of encouragement and the kittens’ will to survive. “They’re stronger than you think,” Lexi said. “Any help you give is better than what they had before.”
Lexi doesn’t plan to keep in contact with the new owners long-term, but she appreciates the updates she has received. For now, she’s simply grateful that she heard that meow — the sound that turned a normal day into a lifesaving one.
