Nunnie Nurses Offspring and Orphans

Once in a while, an animal truly demonstrates how capable they are of selfless love and compassion. This is the case for Nunnie, a quiet and gentle cat that nursed and mothered not only her own litter of kittens, but a second set of kittens who were orphaned and relied on her for their survival. 

Nunnie's story begins like many others - this 3 year old cat came in to Cape Ann Animal Aid from the Greater Boston area, abandoned, pregnant, and ready to give birth at any moment. She was with us a total of 5 days before giving birth to a litter of 4 kittens. An attentive mother, the family was given a quiet and secluded space in our cat room to nurse. The kittens and mom were all wary of humans at first, hissing when staff would approach the small box they lay in, but as time would have it Nunnie became more trusting and began to leave the small box her and her kittens were in and seek attention. The litter was moved into foster shortly after to receive the attention they needed until the kittens became old enough for adoption. 

Alice, Nunnie and kittens' foster mom, writes:
"Nunie and her four shy babies were our "Quaran-kittens", a family who needed fostering when the COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone home. Nunie was very protective of her brood for the first few weeks of her babies' kittenhoods. While she was not a big fan of anyone coming near them, she herself was a model of feline motherhood.  As her babes grew older and began weaning, Nunie decided that our house was pretty cool after all and she spent more time relaxing in the sunny windows and morphing into the lovely, sweet girl she is today."

Nunnie's original 4 were adopted quickly from their foster home. All in all, a typical story of a cat and her kittens with a very happy ending. But Nunnie's story was about to take a turn from the typical. 

Alice writes:
 "But, as chance and tragedy would have it, Nunie's job as a mom was only half-done. On a Friday morning, I got a call from the shelter that four infant kitties had lost their mom the previous night. The decision was made to see if Nunie would step in as step-mom to these little orphans. After maybe 3 hours of quizzical looks, Nunie decided to make the leap. When she started licking the kitties as they nuzzled into her body, I knew they would be safe. Her second litter - the 'cheese' litter of Cheddar, Brie, Gouda, and PepperJack - were reared with the same doting love as her first and they will soon be on their way to their own forever homes.....thanks to Nunie." 

After giving so much, it is time for this mom to have some much-deserved rest with a family that can repay her in many years of adoration. Nunnie (now affectionately called 'noon' for short) was adopted at the end of August and has been settling into her new home.

Nunnie is truly a special cat. Her love and doting nature shows us how much animals like her are capable of! She, and all eight of her kittens had their medical needs attended to by Cape Ann Animal Aid's Shelter Medicine Department. This care included vaccinations, spay/neuter surgeries, microchips, and regular checks to make sure all kittens grew up healthy and ready to move on to forever homes! Thanks to the support of our Shelter Medicine Department from people like you, we are able to save animals like Nunnie and her kittens. 

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Nunnie and her original kittens during a Facebook Live video in May (Nunnie and kittens at 10:31)

Nunnie now, in her forever home