Izabelle, a cat who undeniably deserves a special Mother’s Day recognition, is presently catering to the needs of 14 tiny, vocal felines, all of whom owe her a massive expression of gratitude.
Originally, Izabelle was a resident of a New York City home, shared with two other adult female felines. The trio all became mothers simultaneously, resulting in an explosion of 14 kittens, with just three mothers to tend to them.
Regrettably, the other new mothers living alongside Izabelle struggled to nurse their newborns. Unwilling to let the kittens continue suffering, Izabelle took matters into her own paws, adopting all the kittens and tirelessly ensuring all 14 were well fed.
Swamped by the influx of kittens, Izabelle’s owners decided to surrender the selfless surrogate mother and her 14 babies to the Animal Care Centers in NYC. Some kittens being just nine days old, the ACC realized they would need additional support to prepare the entire feline family for adoption. Despite the common perception that kittens might be straightforward to adopt, they’re not ready for a permanent home until at least eight weeks old when they’re big enough for neutering or spaying and don’t require their mother’s sustenance anymore.
Best Friends Animal Society managed to intervene, welcoming the heroic mother and her large, yet endearing litter into its newly opened center in New York City, equipped with a kitten nursery. Izabelle, along with receiving medical care for herself and her 14 kittens, was offered something she desperately needed: time to rest.
All of Izabelle’s hard work was rewarded. Veterinarians soon established that all the kittens were healthy and growing well. Two of the kittens are now old enough to transition to a wet food diet and several others are now under the care of foster parents and shelter volunteers. This leaves Izabelle with a more manageable eight kittens to care for.
The immediate next step is to find a foster home for Izabelle and her reduced family. Once the kittens no longer need nursing, all eight of them, plus the mother, will be neutered or spayed, vaccinated, and microchipped, preparing them all to find their forever homes.