A rescue cat who had been grieving the tragic loss of an entire litter has become an adoptive mom to five orphaned kittens.
Stephani from Kentucky took to TikTok to share her cat Marnie’s heartbreaking, yet ultimately uplifting, story in a video captioned “she is a mom” that has garnered close to 2 million views.
A dilute calico cat, Marnie endured a difficult start to life, having lived as a stray prior to being rescued by Stephani and her family. By the time she was living with them, Marnie was already pregnant, but the family welcomed the news.
“We planned to keep the kittens thinking she was having maybe two or three,” Stephani told Newsweek. “She made it to full term and then she started to show signs that labor was near. I was so worried about her that I ended up sleeping in a cot beside her in the cat room for days.”
Marniesworld
Around 4 a.m. one day, Stephani was awaken by the sound of Marnie going into labor. But it was sad news. Every one of the kittens she gave birth to was stillborn, and despite the family’s best efforts, they could not be revived.
Stillborn kittens have been shown to be relatively common. A 2006 study from the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery found that about 7 percent of kittens born to pedigree cats were stillborn. In the case of Marnie, the deaths were the result of an undetected uterine infection.
But while breeders may be more accustomed to it, it’s a heartbreaking experience for any ordinary pet owner. That proved to be the case for Stephani’s family.
“It was tragic, and we were devastated,” she said. “She was devastated. We have two children and telling them was very hard. We buried the kittens and named them to honor their life.”
Time can heal wounds, but while Marnie began to recover physically from her infection, there was a sense she had been left broken by what had happened.
“Marnie was upset and restless,” Stephani said. “She will walk the floors and cry looking for her kittens. It was heartbreaking.”
Stephani can remember a time when Marnie would not leave her side and “cried constantly” for the litter she had lost. So they decided to do something about it. Using social media channels like Facebook, the family began to reach out to animal shelters in the hopes of finding a kitten or kittens who would benefit from Marnie’s milk, which had just come in.
Finally, after calling “15 different shelters,” Stephani heard from a woman who had found a litter of five kittens on her front lawn. The kittens had lost their mom, after she was hit and killed by a car, and they were struggling.
“She was trying to bottle feed the newborn kittens, but it wasn’t going as well because she has two jobs and newborn kittens need to eat every two hours and to be cleaned by a momma cat to survive,” Stephani said. “So we jumped in the car and drove an hour and a half down the road to pick up the kittens.”
Marniesworld
Stephanie remembers the kittens being “very frail and very, very hungry, crying all the way home” as they headed back in the car. But everything changed the moment they got them through the front door.
“As soon as we brought the kittens into Marnie, she instantly was frantically excited and went into mother mode. Since then she’s been super protective of them,” she said.
Stephani said she’s been amazed at how quickly Marnie has bonded with the kittens who have been feeding off her since they arrived.
“It was an instant connection,” she said. “But lots of people in our area who foster animals have told us how great some female cats are about stepping up and raising kittens who have lost their mom. Animals are amazing.”
Stephani said that it felt like “the stars aligned for us to find these kittens for her” and turned a tragedy into something magical.
“We could have let her grieve and let her milk go away, but it just felt like we were supposed to look for kittens, and my mind couldn’t rest until I found some for her,” she said. “As a mother myself, listening to her cry and searching for them was breaking my heart, and we wanted to turn the tragedy into saving some babies that needed milk.”
Stephani is appreciative of social media not just for the help people offered when looking for the kittens but also the heartwarming and supportive messages posted alongside the video on TikTok·
“The entire situation was like an emotional roller coaster from extreme grief to extreme joy,” she said. “It’s been a wonderful learning experience for our children about overcoming tragedy and helping animals in need.”
The plan now is to help some of the kittens find loving homes, though the family will keep a couple of them as company for Marnie. They are also considering turning the whole thing into a children’s book. It’s certainly a story with an incredible ending.
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