Toddler with 1 arm adopts kitten with 3 legs

Simone and Matt Tipton with their daughter, Scarlette, 2, and her brother Kayden, 3, pose with the new addition to their family, Holly. (John Welsh/Riverside County Department of Animal Services via AP)

Scarlette had to have her left arm amputated to eradicate a rare form of cancer she was born with, while Holly had to get her right front leg amputated after an unidentified injury. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Smiles for Scarlette)

A Southern California girl who had her left arm amputated after a rare cancer diagnosis is recovering with the help of a friend just like her.

Scarlette Tipton, of Orange County, California, and her parents, Matt and Simone Tipton, recently adopted Holly, a 3-month-old gray and white kitten that has only three limbs.

When 2-year-old Scarlette and the kitten met, the little girl told her mother, “Owie,” while pointing to the kitten’s injury, according to a press release from Riverside County Animal Services, which sought an adoptive family for Holly. “Yes,” Simone told her daughter. “Yes, an owie. Just like you. But she’s OK— just like you are too.”

Scarlette needed to undergo her amputation when she was 10 months old to eradicate the cancer she was born with— undifferentiated high grade spindle cell sarcoma. Her parents told FoxNews.com that she is the only one to have her exact type of cancer.

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The Riverside County Animal Services release noted Holly likely lost her leg after getting caught in the fan belt of a car engine. Stray cats commonly climb inside car engines to stay warm during the winter.

The Tiptons tried to adopt Holly from Riverside’s San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus on Christmas Eve, but the kitten was still healing from her Dec. 17 amputation surgery. Shelter employees promised the Tiptons that Holly was all theirs once she recovered. On Wednesday, the Tiptons brought Holly home to Scarlette, who is now in remission from cancer.