When Shelbi Uyehara, the owner of Jin’s Bottle Babies (an Arizona kitten rescue), and her husband moved into their new home last fall, they spotted a house with a lot of cats. They made contact with the homeowner in order to learn more about the neighborhood stray cats, spay and neuter them, and offer medical treatment for them.
“About 30-40 cats needed to be fixed, and some of them were pregnant,” Shelbi said in an interview.
A cat began appearing outside their driveway and around their property as the couple was busy repairing their home. She had just given birth in the caretaker’s front yard, it turned out.
“She gave birth to kittens the night before we moved in. It’s as though she was expecting us.”
It was rare for a nursing mother to be away from her infants for such an extended period of time. It was at this time that Shelbi learned about an orange kitten called Red from the cat’s foster mother. Red was born into a different litter in the backyard from the rest of the litter. He decided to join the front yard staff when he heard the sobbing of the new kittens and leaped the fence to get to them. In the meanwhile, Red would be chasing after them and playing with their tails.”
As soon as they observed that the cat mother had stopped nursing her young, they knew it was time to act. The kittens were screaming out for their mother when they came upon Red, who ran over to them. Red has been with the infants from the day he first crawled over the fence. When Shelbi decided to take in the litter, she knew Red would have to accompany them.
“We were working as quickly as we could on our home so that they could move in. We had a space for Red and the four black kittens to come inside once our home was in good enough shape. I couldn’t let him remain without them out there. They all had crusty eyes and were underweight when they arrived, but after only 24 hours of treatment, their tummies were full, their bodies were clean, and they looked so much better.”
Red remained a mentor to the younger kittens (Coral, Mamba, King, and Viper), teaching them how to play like cats and keeping an eye on them when they rested. When Red found a warm lap, he was overjoyed and flopped down for long cuddling. While being touched, he purred like a cat and melted into his people.
Jen, a rescue volunteer, took over as the five’s foster mother as they continued to socialize. The affectionate orange tabby embraced her with his signature cuddles right away. “He simply wants to be loved, and he follows me around the room, rubbing against my legs while I clean.” Jen added․ “And he’s so adorable with the small ones.”
Since then, 36 cats in the area have been spayed or neutered, including the babies’ mother. “It makes me feel like this is the house we were meant to acquire, and that we are genuinely at home and in the right place. Because all of these cats are fixed, no babies will be born suffering,” Shelbi said in an interview.
“These five kittens are ecstatic to be inside. Red is an angel guy,” Shelbi remarked, despite the fact that he is an older kitten in his teen feline years. “He’s very soft, kind, and content to lounge about in the foster room, and their kind, peaceful, joyful, lovely temperament (and their big purrs) are them thanking you.”
“You’d think their vast age gap would be an issue, but Red has been overjoyed to spend time with his small pals. It’s been a very adorable, wonderful, one-of-a-kind thing to see.”
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