You never quite know when somebody special is going to come into your life. It sometimes happens out of the blue, or with very little warning. When it does take place, however, it will change you from that point forward in a way that you may never have expected. At times, it may be another human that fills the need to but there are also times when it is an animal. That was the case with Kathryn, an orange tabby who was found in an empty rental apartment.
When new tenants moved into the apartment, they found the cat and knew that she needed help. That is when they called Langebaan Animal Care in South Africa. They were able to help the mother cat but they weren’t able to help the kittens. The chairperson of the animal care, Izelle Marallich took in Kathryn and she started begging for love.
She was extremely affectionate and was not scared of any of my foster dogs — [she] walked right up to them and rubbed herself against every one of them,” Marallich told the Dodo . “She had to sleep with a person and hold on to you. It was like she could not get enough love.”
Even though she had the love of a foster family, the orange tabby still wanted more. “She was very restless, however, and would cry looking for her babies,” Marallich said, “which was heartbreaking.”
The cat’s life changed when a litter of puppies was orphaned and arrived at the same house. It wasn’t long before Kathryn bonded with the pups, calling to them when they were looking for food. She tried to soothe the puppies by licking them.
“They were a bit confused about it initially and would move away from her, but she was persistent and kept going to groom them,” Marallich said. “They started to get used to her licking them and she just lay down with them and didn’t leave their side at all.”
It wasn’t long before the puppies got used to their adopted mother and started nursing. It seems as if Kathryn was complete when that occurred.
“She stopped being restless and crying and just slept day and night with them,” Marallich said. “[She] even ate the puppy food we gave them. They were happy and she was happy!”
Kathryn became a very devoted mother to her adopted puppies. She slept with them, allowed them to nurse and groomed them.
She is very protective over them and got very restless when they wandered out [of] the playpen and away from her,” Marallich said. “She would follow them and call them the whole time and was only happy once they were back with her.”
“I have never seen such a dedicated and loving mommy,” Marallich added. “She never left their side day and night!”
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Since that time, the puppies have moved into their forever homes and Kathyrn has two new babies to care for. They are orphaned kittens that were found in a field. Kathryn has given those kittens what they needed to live.
Marallich feels fortunate to be the company with such an amazing cat. “She has got a lot of people interested in adopting her,” Marallich said, “but, for now, she will remain with us and continue being a loving and caring mom to orphaned animals.”
It seems as if the love of a mother really knows no boundaries.
Source: The DoDo