Cats often receive help from compassionate citizens, strengthening the bond between felines and humans. Rescue groups and fostering agencies also routinely assist humans in their conservation efforts, including caring for the offspring of a mother cat, no matter how long it takes to find them forever homes.
In 2020, a kind man and resident of a Richmond, Virginia, apartment building rescued a one-year-old cat from the city's busy Broad Street thoroughfare. Just a few days after he brought her inside to care for her, he was surprised to see that young feline morph into a proud mother of five tiny Tabby kittens snuggled up against her. Not knowing how to care for the feline fry, the man contacted West End Cat Rescue (WECR) for assistance.
Story written by Alex Lemieux.
"We checked on them and any questions this man had; I told him to call me anytime no matter how small the questions were," WECR founder Vicky explained. "I always tell my adopters at any time they have a question about kitties or the kitty they adopt, please call and ask first."
Until they could be taken into the care of WECR, the kitties needed to remain with their mother for at least six weeks to nurse. The rescue group's volunteers coached the kind man on how he could give the best care to the mother cat, like feeding her a mixture of wet and dry food, so she had the strength to nurse her babies.
Once that six-week threshold had been crossed, WECR took in two gray, one light gray, and one orange Tabby kittens after an unfortunate loss of the fifth one. The orange Tabby was adopted quickly, then the light gray one; however, over one year later, the two gray Tabbies are still hoping to have humans add them to their loving families.
Sisters Diane and Whitney are sweet together. They are so sweet, in fact, they purr while taking their immunization shots, Vicky illustrated.
They are quite a dynamic duo, as well. Any human within eyesight is bound to get a head butt to the hand to coax attention through rubs on their silky soft coats until they hop in your lap and crawl all over you.
"I do not know why they haven't been adopted yet," Vicky said. "They are now one year old and still waiting for their forever homes."
WECR is still in contact with the man who took in the mother cat, and she's doing very well. Since WECR has taken such great care of her children and found some homes, the mother cat is still hopeful her daughters will have a bright future with families.
Diane and Whitney don't need to be adopted together. They would like forever homes regardless. As author Lisa See would say, "Side by side or miles apart, sisters will always be connected by their heart." Yet, these felines need to grow up in a home with plenty of humans or other animals that have all the time in the world to play with them and love them.
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