We’ve found Kentucky’s cutest cat. Meet Millie, a former foster who charmed readers
After more than 100 submissions, weeks of polls and hundreds of votes from Herald-Leader subscribers, it’s finally time to crown the cutest cat in Kentucky.
Millie, a 1-year-old orange tabby cat from Lexington, clawed her way to the top of a crowded field by surviving weekly eliminations, and in the championship poll, won 362 votes over challenger Lily’s 212.
In her winning photo, Millie curled into a comfortable C-shape on the family’s carpet. Her front paws were bent forward near her face and her belly exposed. It’s a signal Millie likely feels at home in the Laborio household just a few months after she was adopted from a Nicholasville rescue.
Millie’s owner Anne Laborio, is 65 and is a lifelong resident of Lexington. Laborio went to Tates Creek High School and graduated from the University of Kentucky.
As Laborio tells it, Millie came into the family after the sudden and unexpected loss of Helen, the family’s previous cat who was 13 years old when she died in March.
“She was a lap cat,” Laborio said, remembering Helen. “We really bonded with her.”
When she was ready to adopt a new cat, Laborio said she had something specific in mind.
“I’m an orange tabby kind of person,” Laborio said. “I wanted a young rescue.”
In June, the family adopted Millie from Veterinarians to the Rescue, a nonprofit in Nicholasville working to stop the unnecessary euthanasia of animals. Laborio credited her daughter Amanda for suggesting the place.
“They just couldn’t have been any nicer,” Laborio said of Veterinarians to the Rescue.
Herald-Leader subscribers who voted for Millie were also likely drawn to her unique story.
Before she found her forever home with Laborio and her family, Millie was in foster care. At the time, Millie was nursing her own litter of six kittens, and when unfortunate circumstances brought two other kittens into her care, Millie took over nursing those, too, Laborio said.
Laborio said Millie is excited to be crowned Kentucky’s cutest cat. That said, it’s likely she’s even happier to have such a good home.
“We just think she runs our house,” Laborio said. “She loves our children and our grandchildren… She plays with the grandkids. She nudges them like they’re her kittens.”
“She’s definitely bonded here,” Laborio said of Millie.
Our poll was open to votes from subscribers, who support the Herald-Leader’s daily news, features and investigative reporting. Subscriptions start at 99 cents a month.
Do you have a question about Kentucky or Lexington for our service journalism team? We’d like to to hear from you. Fill out our Know Your Kentucky form or email ask@herald-leader.com.