Tricia Mitchell and her husband, Shawn, thought a guy carrying a little black cat through a market in Lviv, Ukraine, had just adopted him and was taking him home when they noticed him.

Mitchell told The Dodo, “I had happy ideas of him potentially taking him home to surprise a delighted family member.” “Instead, the man stepped behind a row of steel-gray dumpsters and tossed the cat into a heap of mingled leaves and rubbish.”

Cocoa the kitten was introduced to the couple in this manner.

Mitchell and her husband have traveled through more than 60 countries over the past several years, and have seen too many homeless pets to count – but this was the first time they’d ever seen one abandoned right before their very eyes. It left them speechless, and wanting to help.

“As nomads who have by choice been without a home base the past three years, we knew we were in no position to become pet parents to the little one, but we also couldn’t leave the kitten on the street,” Mitchell said.

The couple brought the scared cat back to their apartment and began the process of obtaining veterinary treatment for him. He was roughly 6 weeks old, they discovered. They took care of his immunizations, flea and worm treatments, as well as getting him microchipped.

Because they couldn’t keep him themselves, the couple decided to take Cocoa back to Mitchell’s parents’ home in Germany. They knew they’d be able to find someone to take the little kid because they had so many family and friends there.

The threesome set out on their 600-mile quest to find Cocoa a new home after securing him his own passport.

Cocoa, it turns out, was made to travel. He had no qualms about traveling trains and buses, and he enjoyed looking out the windows and watching the world go by. “Cocoa was an excellent travel companion and a great sport given we were always on the road,” Mitchell added. “Cocoa would pop out from our protecting palms during the time we spent inside buses, streetcars, cabs, and trams, evoking warm grins from passengers.”

It didn’t take long for Cocoa to find a home once she returned to Germany. Mitchell writes a blog, and one of her regular readers, Claudine, was so taken by Cocoa that she knew she had to get him. Mitchell and her husband handed him to his new family only three and a half weeks after they found him.

Cocoa has relocated to Switzerland and is enjoying every aspect of his new life. Mitchell remarked, “Cocoa was and is equal parts sassy and loving.” “His new permanent family tells of him behaving like the prince of their household, which consists of four people and five cats.”

Nine months after his adoption, the couple who saved him had the pleasure of visiting him in his new home. Cocoa was thrilled to see his old friends.

“He hopped onto my lap, looked into my eyes, and extended his arms onto my shoulders,” Mitchell said. “His new owner, Claudine, was certain he remembered us. Shawn and I found that incredibly touching.”

Cocoa went from being dumped on the street to living like a king with a loving home, and he’ll never forget the people who gave him everything.

“‘I remember you people,’ he kept saying as he kept staring at us. ‘Are we about to embark on another adventure?’”