Got an amazing thing happening here re: kittens...

[Fix The Stupid]

Hi All,

Anyone ever hear of this or seen this happen before?

Long story short:

A co-worker is feeding and catching as many cats as she can in her neighborhood. She takes them to the vet, gets them cleaned up, then spayed or neutered and trys to get them new homes... amazing right? I think it is...

So.. one of the cats is pregnant. Starts going into labor - she and I leave work to go to her house to watch the miracle of kitten birth.

Here's where it gets weird/awesome. One of the strays has decided that she is the 2nd mommy. She's just a kitten, maybe 6 months old, but during the whole birth, this cat was licking the mommy, cleaning the babies, etc, etc.

She will not leave the box either. It is literally a two team effort going on here..I've never seen anything like it.

My co-worker is telling me today that the 'Midwife" has never left the box or the kittens. She is trying to nurse them as well, and apparently she is developing teats?!?! It is so cute to watch them...a total team effort...

These are going to be the healthiest, cleanest kittens ever.

Nature, you gotta love it.

[siligut]

1. I haven't heard of that before

But it seems really wonderful and what your friend does is wonderful as well.

[WilliamPitt]

2. We had a wonderful abysinnian who got pregnant in 1994

We'd set up a perfect little birthing nest upstairs in the spot she'd picked out, and one day, she cam meowing into the kitchen in obvious labor.

I picked her up like a faberge egg and placed her gently into her nest. We sat in the kitchen downstairs smoking like chimneys, just like the stereotypical expectant fathers in the waiting room...

...until we heard this strident MEOW at our feet.

It was her, back in the kitchen, demanding our presence in the birthing room. She wanted the dog there, too, and got her wish.

So we were all there for her when the deal went down. It was pretty amazing stuff.

[LaurenG]

3. Aww

Sweet little girl.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I had an old dog once, who had never had puppies, but she still tried to co-mother a litter

of kittens. The kittens didn't mind, but the momma cat was not very happy with the idea. Every time the cat would leave the kittens, the dog would get in the box with them to bath and cuddle them. When momma kitty came back they would hiss and fuss at each other, the dog would leave and kitty would get back in the box. Phew! The babies all smelled like dog and would require another bath.

[nolabear]

5. She really wants to be a mommy. False pregnancies are not uncommon.

They can be pretty cool when there are real babies to feed. It's kind of pitiful when there aren't. I used to have a Doberman Pinscher, Phaedra, who had a couple of false pregnancies (before I wised up and spayed her). She would develop milk and adopt her stuffed toys. One day we could pick pne up and toss it or invite her to wrestle with it and she'd be fine, and the next she'd hit us with a look of utter horror, come over and take the toy gently in her mouth and cuddle with it in her bed.

She also adopted our blonde Abysinnian guinea pig, Trigger, and the two of them were loves for life.

[Wait Wut]

6. One of mine did this, but it was even more bizarre.

Mama cat was a "stray" that I adopted. She ended up being pregnant. I had never had baby kitties born under my care, so I read every site I could. I prepared the perfect box, etc.

Mama was an older cat, I'd say about 9 or 10. She had three babies. The nite they were born, I checked on them about every 45 mins. or so. It was a cold nite, I lived in an older, drafty house. One of the times I went to check on the babies, I could only find two. I had this horrible vision of mama eating one of her babies, but I couldn't see any evidence. Not only that, but mama was looking at me and meowing frantically while her other two nursed. I searched the box and found the third. She had gotten stuck in the blanket and was ICE cold and barely breathing. I took her and put her under mama's arm and she started licking her frantically in between looking at me with what was the most grateful look I imagine a cat could give. She got up and repositioned herself so that the third could nurse easier and actually PUSHED the other two away.

As they were growing up (I kept all three), I noticed the third was developing much more slowly and didn't socialize with her brother or sister, much. Mama was waaaaay overprotective of the little one. The weird part happened when they were about 6 months old. Her sister started taking care of her. Bathing her, comforting her, protecting her. Even the brother was incredibly gentle with her. Somehow, they knew she was different, probably brain-damaged. Anyway, her sister and mama would actually get into fights over her.

Mama passed away about 6 months ago and the little one has blossomed. She's finally learning to clean herself (they're four years old, now). She learned to meow at about 2 years. Her sister is still protective of her, but the little one hates her, now. It's bizarre.

[Arugula Latte]

7. Awww.

Mama kitty has a little "sister wife." That's sweet.

[mimitabby]

8. this is not so uncommon

i had a couple of cats that did this too. One of them was a spayed cat who was never a mother. She ended up nursing kittens with milk
and liked the kittens more than their own mother did.

[Jazzgirl]

9. I had a male Siamese many years ago.

Someone wanted to breed their cat with mine (another Siamese) so I went ahead and did it. I got my pick of the litter for letting him mate with the mother. Anyway, when the kitten was weaned I brought her home but held her in my lap for a long time because I was afraid Pasha (the father) might hurt her or feel threatened. I kept her in my lap for a while and then decided to put her down to see how she would react. Pasha wasn't coming around. He didn't look too happy when we first brought her home. I got distracted by the TV and then looked up realizing I didn't see her anymore. I panicked and jumped up and saw Pasha walking towards the downstairs bathroom which held the litter box. He had the kitten in his mouth by the scruff of her neck. He carried in the bathroom and gently placed her in the litter box and nudged her. He litter trained her!

He always let her eat and drink first. He protected her like a real father should. It was quite interesting.