Izabelle, who sure better get a Mother’s Day card this year, is currently feeding 14 little meowing mouths that owe her a big thank you.
The little cat with a huge heart originally lived in a New York City home with two other adult female cats. The trio each gave birth to a litter of kittens at about the same time, leading to 14 kittens crawling around with only three moms to handle them all.
Unfortunately, the other new moms living with Izabelle had some trouble nursing their babies. Instead of watching the kittens continue to suffer, Izabelle adopted them all, working around the clock to keep all 14 of them fed.
Overwhelmed by new arrivals, the tabby cat’s owners surrendered the surrogate mom and 14 babies to Animal Care Centers, which is located in N.Y.C. With some of the kittens at just nine days old, the ACC just knew it would need additional resources to get the entire family to a place where they are adoptable. While many think kittens might be easy to adopt, they aren’t ready for a forever home until they are at least eight weeks old, when they are large enough to be spayed or nurtured and no longer need mom for nutrition.
Best Friends Animal Society was able to step up and take in the super-mom and her huge but adorable brood, bringing them to its new center, complete with kitten nursery, in New York City. Along with receiving medical treatment for herself and her 14 kids, Izabelle was given something she craved and needed even more: time to rest.
All of Izabelle’s hard work paid off. Veterinarians soon determined that all of the kittens are healthy and developing on track. Two of the mom’s kittens are just old enough to move to a wet food diet and several others are now receiving care from fosters and shelter volunteers, leaving Izabelle with a much more reasonable eight wee ones to care for.
The very next step will be to find a foster home for Izabelle and her slimmed down set of kids. Once the kittens no longer need to nursing, all eight of them plus the mom will be spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped, which means they will then all be ready to find their forever homes.
Photo credits: BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY │ h/t: people.com
