NEED TO KNOW

• Vanessa Crowley and her boyfriend rescued a kitten found in a dumpster near her apartment in November 2022

• The kitten, later named Spooky, was malnourished and sunburned but became healthy after medical care and treatment

• Spooky now lives with Crowley, and a TikTok video of the cat recently went viral with over 250,000 views

It was a typical day in November 2022 as Vanessa Crowley, then in high school, passed by a dumpster outside her family’s apartment building.

She and her brother always joked about a squirrel that hung out near the trash bin, but when they looked inside, they didn’t find a squirrel—but something else entirely: a kitten.

“My brother took a peek inside and bounced back in shock and yelled, ‘There’s a cat in there!'” Crowley, now 21, recalls.

The siblings immediately “dove into action.” Crowley called her boyfriend’s mom, explained the situation, and asked to borrow a cat carrier and if her boyfriend could help out once he got off from work.

When her boyfriend showed up to help, he brought gloves, the carrier and a ladder to climb into the dumpster.

“We dropped down a can of tuna for her to eat since she looked hungry, so my boyfriend sat in the dumpster for a bit and began feeding her tuna from his glove to gain her trust,” Crowley tells PEOPLE. “Eventually, she completely let her guard down, rubbing against his hand and circling him. He had the carrier open next to him, and eventually she just walked right in, and we shut the door behind her.”

Once they got her out of the dumpster, they took the kitten to Crowley’s place of work, which was a cat cafe. She called her manager and let him know the situation.

“He said that if I brought her over, he could have one of the vet techs or vet students take a look at her to check for weight, age, ticks, fleas, etc.,” Crowley shares. “After her examination, she stayed with my boyfriend’s family for a while while we searched online for anyone who lost a cat.”

However, they “had a feeling” that nothing would come up after the vet techs noticed the cat had sunburned ears from being outside for too long. While they don’t know the cat’s exact age, she was estimated to be between 2 and 4 months old when they found her. Crowley named the kitten Spooky and decided her birthday would be on Aug. 10, 2022.

After a month of unsuccessfully trying to find Spooky’s owner, Crowley adopted her in December 2022.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“When we found her, she was practically full of roundworms. She had to go through a couple of trials of medication to clear her out, but she is now perfectly clean and healthy!” Crowley shares.

“She’s not very vocal, except for dinnertime, but typically trills,” she adds. “She is very skittish, but she’s super curious and playful! Her favorite toy is a stuffed mouse with a bell. She really enjoys quail eggs.”

Crowley recently shared a video of Spooky on TikTok, and the video went viral, amassing over 250,000 views.

Although Spooky initially stayed with Crowley’s boyfriend for a while because her mom didn’t like cats, she has since brought the pet home, and Spooky hasn’t left her side since.

Read the original article on People