The selfless folks at the Homeless Animal Adoption League in Bloomfield, NJ are used to getting calls about kittens in need, but on December 8 an ordinary call turned into quite an extraordinary story.
It was a chilly day and had just begun to rain when volunteers arrived to retrieve the abandoned animals. They found an open recycling container with at least four kittens snuggled tightly against their mama.
Back at the shelter, they discovered that there were actually six healthy, well-fed kittens hidden in the container. Although HAAL already had a full house of dogs and cats, they made room for 7 more.
The kittens were only about 4 – 5 weeks old, so they piled them all together into a cozy cage with their sweet, but timid, caretaker.
The next day when the staff had a bit more time to examine their new arrivals they discovered that the adult cat was hiding a secret. “She” wasn’t a mama at all – “she” was a “he”!
The shocked but delighted volunteers named the black kitty Mrs.Doubtfire for successfully masquerading as a female and for his extraordinary babysitting skills.
It is not known if Mrs. Doubtfire is the biological father of the kittens or just a kindly “brother from another mother.” Either way, his body warmth and protection likely kept the kittens alive until they were rescued; and for that, he is being celebrated as a hero.
Now that the little modern family has been safely rescued, Mrs. Doubtfire is still holding onto his role as surrogate mother to the kittens. He cuddles them, grooms them and gently tends to each one as if they were his own. He has been moved to the cage directly next door to get some much-needed personal time, but he visits frequently.
In a post on the rescue’s Facebook page they credited Mrs. Doubtfire with reminding them of a very valuable lesson:
“That little cat has taught us that you do what you have to do to protect the most vulnerable.”
By the looks of this adorable video posted yesterday, the “Doubtfire Six” are doing great and growing up strong. The entire family, including “Dad” should be ready to find new homes soon!
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