TA color blast
TA exposure
TA portrait smooth (72%) with cub masked
Luko sharpen
Exposure adjustment to lighten with upper background masked
TA equalize (30% opacity)
TA noise reduction with stroke for border
Curves (40% opacity) in lighter color mode with background masked
Soft Light layer for dodging and burning
Brought out the kitten (cub?) and the foreground very well! My only suggestion would be to see if you could darken the upper part of the background just a bit. Lovely catch of this gorgeous animal!