Margie Morris arrived at Project Purr Animal Rescue, a cat rescue center in Mobile, Alabama, last Thursday to find two cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other outside the entrance.
The boxes had holes punched in them and were wrapped with duct tape loosely. Morris was partially correct in her assumption that there were cats within. Morris and the shelter employees discovered a mother cat and two 5-week-old orange kittens when they opened the top box.
The other box, on the other hand, was empty. Morris believes that another cat was imprisoned within the box but was able to escape.
“As it turned out, another cat was sighted running about our tiny strip mall’s parking lot on Saturday morning, and myself and three team volunteers tried to catch her,” Morris, the director of Project Purr Animal Rescue, told us. “We couldn’t capture her because she was climbing up in the automobile engines.” It was raining outside. We attempted to entice her with food, but it didn’t work out. We’re hopeful she’s still out there someplace – we’ve left food out for her, but she hasn’t shown up.”
While the Project Purr team continues to search for the missing cat, they are doing everything they can to assist Caroline, the mother cat, in feeding and caring for her babies, Shilo and Neil.
Morris explained, “We made up a tiny bed and a little kennel for her to keep them secure.” “We’re supplementing her kitty chow with vitamins.”
Morris re-united the orange kittens with their mother, and the family is thriving.
“The kittens will play as small as they are, battling each other and bouncing about, and cuddling up next to the mother,” Morris added. “She adores them and looks after them meticulously.”
Caroline was still feeding the orange kittens, but Morris observed something unusual about her: she was pregnant. Morris assumed she’d become pregnant soon after giving birth to Shilo and Neil, and that her second litter would arrive in a few weeks.
The shelter personnel, on the other hand, were in for a major surprise. Caroline went into labor at 5 p.m. last night and gave birth to four healthy kittens. When Morris did the arithmetic, she concluded Caroline couldn’t be both the orange kittens’ mother and surrogate mother at the same time – she’d only been their surrogate mother. Morris was also curious as to whether the cat who escaped the second cardboard box was the genuine mother.
Caroline could have gotten out of the cardboard box as well, according to Morris, but she hadn’t – she’d stayed with Shilo and Neil.
“I’m just thankful she didn’t flee and abandon the children,” Morris added. “I think the finest thing about the cat is that she didn’t abandon those babies.”
Caroline’s family has expanded, and she is caring for her four infants admirably.
Morris described her as “the finest mom ever.”
Caroline and the orange kittens’ story is unfortunately all too familiar. Morris thinks that at least 15 cats have been thrown outside the shelter in the last five years. It happened two nights ago, in fact.
