The timeless tale begin like this: an inciting incident delivered on the doorstep.

Junior Kaidyn Baird-Arroyo woke Thursday morning to a surprise on his porch– a scruffy black and white kitten to be rescued.

“There were a couple birds bouncing around the cat,” Baird-Arroyo said. “I didn’t want it to get eaten so I spooked them away. I then took it inside and put it in a cardboard box with an old shirt in it. I was very scared because I have never taken care of a cat before. I didn’t have any cat food or supplies.”

Baird-Arroyo began to contact friends for advice. Sneaking it into school, one cat-owning friend offered to supply the needed formula, but she “unfortunately” forgot it, Baird-Arroyo said, leading him to seek help from Emily Veraa, the resident agriculture science teacher.

“Because I run the veterinary science program and have experience in the veterinary field, this isn’t the first time a student has brought me an injured animal,” Veraa said. “To help the kitten, we warmed its body temperature and gave it some milk supplement. This was able to become a hands-on experience for my veterinary medicine students.”

The kitten, named Leo by the veterinary medicine class is young enough to require constant care said Veraa, who is fostering the feline until he is old enough to be taken in by Texas Humane Heroes.

“I would love to keep the cat,” Baird-Arroyo said. “However the agriculture teacher says  that she has someone already lined up to take it. And I most likely wouldn’t be able to take him since I doubt my dad will [let me].”