July 9, 2009 Kitten rescued in Iraq, needs new home Play video

(NECN: Ally Donnelly, Sudbury, Mass.) - A State Department employee is looking for a good home for her kitten. The Massachusetts woman rescued him from the streets of Iraq in April.

Unfortunately, now she must head back to the war-torn region, and can't take the kitten with her.

The three-month-old alley cat is camera shy.

Like his owner, he's a red head and stares at strangers with wary, acorn eyes. He's got big, pointy ears, spots and stripes drape his lean frame and a long thin tail trails behind.

36-year-old Suzanne Bowdoin rescued him from the streets of Iraq. The Sudbury, Massachusetts woman works for the State Department and is stationed in Erbil -- the capitol city of the Kurdistan region.

She took the two-week-old kitten off the roof of her building. Its mother plucking him from the litter and leaving him to die in the hot sun again and again.

Bowdoin snuck him back into the military compound where she lives. She fashioned a litter box out of cardboard and bulgur wheat and -- with no formula -- fed him milk, mixed with yogurt and honey from a syringe.

Though she never thought he'd make it, the little kitty pulled through and thrived under the love and attention of his human hero.

Some cats have nine lives. This cat has had just as many names. The Iraqi veterinarian wanted him to have a strong American named so called him Tommy. Bowdoin waffles between Yetti and Mish-Mish. Yetti means orphan and there's a saying

Bowdoin says if animals dream, being rescued from filth and neglect of the streets is a dream come true for mish-mish.

Bowdoin -- who already has two adult cats and is being sent back to Iraq next week -- can't keep the auburn kitty. Mish-mish needs a new home. One full of love, toys and preferably Bowdoin says --- an American welcome to a stranger from afar.