During the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals are facing the challenge of providing for themselves. This situation has made it even more difficult for those who have a soft spot for animals and cannot turn away from them, despite their own struggles. The current circumstances have resulted in job losses for numerous people, making it harder for them to extend their care towards animals in need.
Shea Prior, a woman from New Jersey in the United States, noticed a stray cat wandering around her yard a couple of months ago. With her kindness and patience, she approached the stray. It took some time to convince the cat that she was not a threat and that she could get close enough to Prior to be fed and pet. And she finally gained the cat’s trust. After a few days of their newfound feeding routine, Prior realized that the cat was producing milk and must have had kittens somewhere nearby.
“I was giving her some affection and went to pick her up, when I realized she had milk in her and had been nursing some kittens,” Prior explained. She felt excited about this discovery and wanted to assist with the kittens, so she thought she would simply ask the cat to introduce her family to her.
Before beginning, Prior politely asked the mother cat to proudly display her adorable babies, expressing her certainty that they must be very beautiful. “I kindly requested to see her precious little ones, telling her that I was confident they were incredibly attractive.” It appears that Prior’s words made the mother cat feel at ease, and she led Prior to her kittens the following day.
“She came bounding up to me and rubbed against my leg while making her little croaking noise,” Prior said. Mother cat took Prior by her shed, laid down on her side and started calling her adorable babies to come out and meet the woman. The kittens were wary of Prior at first, but after some reassurance from their mother, they emerged from their hiding place. “One of the little gray ones was super brave and came up to me with his little pointy tail held up high in the air and let me pet him immediately,” Prior said. “Eventually, after about 10 to 15 minutes, they had all come up to me and let me hold them and pet them.”
She immediately knew she wanted to assist the adorable family and took them all in. “I will be adopting mama cat to live with me and my other two sweet girls! All the babies have found homes and will be adopted as soon as mama is okay with it. But for now, everyone is doing great,” she said and added that she started a crowdfunding page to help take care of the cat family. “I started a GoFundMe for vet bills to get mama spayed and to get the babies checked out.”
Prior to this, the mother cat had adopted and mentioned that two of the kittens will be staying with her. The rest of the kittens will also be adopted once they are a little older and need less care from their mother. Earning someone’s trust is a significant achievement, especially if that person has never given trust to anyone before. For animals, it can be easier or more challenging since they don’t communicate in the same way we do. However, once they understand our good intentions, they will definitely reciprocate it. What an amazing story!
