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I had been feeding this feral female cat for about a year. She came to eat two or three times a day. I even put out several heated cat shelters for her since winters in the Midwest can be brutal. I tried trapping her several times using a live trap but always ended up trapping one of my own cats.
The day before Mother’s Day, she showed up to eat, but this time she had four kittens with her. I was overjoyed that she trusted me with her babies and was simply showing them where to go for food.
After eating, she didn’t disappear like she normally did. Instead she laid down under a tree while the kittens played nearby. I watched her sleeping until it got dark. In the morning, I noticed her still there under the tree and my heart sank. She had passed during the night.
I soon found two of her kittens had also passed. They had been poisoned, more than likely by eating a dead mouse. I was heartbroken but immediately began looking for the other two kittens.
I eventually found one about 30 feet up the tree their mom died under, terrified and clinging for dear life. It took three of us about 10 hours to get him out of the tree. We also found the last remaining kitten hiding nearby. They were both traumatized.
We rushed them to the vet and, by some miracle, they had not ingested any poison. The vet said the mother cat ate the tainted food several days prior and shared it with the two deceased kittens. Then it dawned on me that she knew she was dying and brought her little family to the only human she trusted to take care of them.
I buried her with her two kittens on Mother’s Day in my pet cemetery. I will make sure her two remaining kittens never suffer her fate. They are safe, warm and and loved. They will live with me forever. I owe that to their mother.
Story submitted by Deana Zellner.
This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!
