Kate Collins’ son had been feeding a stray, a hungry little cat that had been just hanging around his house in Indianapolis. He named her Mabel. Mabel was too shy to enter the house, and soon she disappeared – for an entire month. The son had been planning to take her to the vet and hopefully get her adopted, but now she was gone.
About a month later, however, she showed up once again; hungry, and looking differently somehow. This time she cautiously came into the house, ate a whole lot, looked around a bit, and then left once again. She did this for about a week, and then disappeared altogether – this time for two months.
Now this is where Mabel will surely begin to pull at your heartstrings:
“Two months later I heard a loud cry from outside my window. It was six in the morning during a bad thunderstorm. I had decided to sleep with the windows open that night to hear the storm come in. When I heard the crying again I quickly dressed and went to the living room. I opened my sliding glass door and saw Mabel, soaking wet, meowing her heart out.”
Poor Mabel was out there in the pouring rain! She must have been frightened to death of the thunder and lightning. But there was more to it than that:
“Then behind her I saw the reason why. There was a very small kitten following her. She led the shivering kitten to my door and disappeared back into the storm. Thirty minutes later she came back, with another kitten. Every thirty minutes Mabel went back into the storm, until, one by one, she had led eight little four-week-old kittens to my door.”
What love! Mabel had trekked back-and-forth through the raging storm to get each and every one of her kittens to safety. If it took 30 minutes to get each one, that means she spent a total of 4 hours in that storm! She brought them to the only person she knew she could trust.
These are Mabel’s kittens: Cole, Quinn, and Ellie!
“In that moment when I stepped outside and I looked into that cat’s eyes, there was an exchange of information. She had successfully communicated to me that she needed help. And somehow, over the weeks and months that I had cared for her, she had come to know that I would. Mabel had struggled for hours to bring her kittens to safety, and I owed it to her to make sure they end up in a good loving home.”
Here are Casper and Lilly!
Kate Collins also wants to thank her heroic son, who did end up taking the kittens into his home and is taking such good care of them.
“My son is determined not to turn them over to a shelter but instead find homes for them and their brave little mother.”
Bless them all!
This is Monty, Leo, and Killian.
Update!!
Happy endings! Here goes:
From Jason:
“I am happy to announce that all eight kittens have found wonderful, loving homes. We have decided to adopt Mabel ourselves, along with three of her kittens. Thank you so much for sharing this story! It brings me to tears and I lived it”!
From Kate:
“Imagine 8 kittens, their mom, and my son’s own rescued cat in a one bedroom apartment! But he was too kind-hearted to shut his door that stormy morning. I’m so proud of him”.
What an amazing team! And what gorgeous kitties, all of them!
