Remember Borsa, the cat who had her labour pains months ago and insisted on having her breakfast? Well guess what? She’s been pregnant — for the umpteenth time — but this time the pregnancy didn’t go too well. Borsa was almost due when she came one morning to have breakfast and she was bleeding. I was expecting her to go through the same drama: labour pain, I’m-too-hungry-to-leave-breakfast-so-I’ll-bear-the-pain-and-eat-but-will-meow-loudly-and-attack-whoever-comes-near-me moments.
But to my surprise, none of this happened. Instead, she ate normally and came back in the evening and was still bleeding. I was certain that she’ll deliver anytime now. The next day, Borsa was still heavily pregnant which was quite alarming. I decided to contact my best friend (the vet of course! Who else?) and told him about the situation. He said that I need to trap her immediately and bring her for a quick check up and maybe a scan to check if the kittens were alright.
The vet was asking for an impossible mission as Borsa is one of the wildest cats I have in Kitzania (you should see her attacking and chasing other cats. I feel sorry for them and thank God for being a human!). But because of the criticality of the situation, I decided to venture and try to trap her — for the sake of the unborn kittens.
At first, I tried the tradition method: scruff her from the neck and throw her in the carrier. This didn’t work as she either ran away or — when my grip was tight — flipped on her back to attack me. I felt worried that she’d fall on her belly and cause more harm to the babies so I let go immediately. Then I tried the second method which was easier: put food in the carrier and wait for her to walk in beguiled.
Borsa was smart as she’d watched dozens of cats before her being trapped this way. She hid under the car and gave me ridiculing looks while I sat on my haunches begging her to come in. Of course, she never moved an inch and within seconds the carrier was filled with ten kittens who wiped the food plate clean and sat there enjoying the confined space (cats and boxes!).
The trapping efforts went for days with no avail. I decided to stop and wait for her to become weak and easier to deal with. Borsa kept coming for food for almost a week, with the same energy and occasional dry blood. Till one day she disappeared. I prayed that she didn’t end up dead as I doubted that the babies were alive by now.
Days later, she came back with a bumpy-looking empty belly and I sighed in relief. We kept open ears for kitten cries and heard nothing for a week, which was abnormal and confirmed that her kittens were dead. But this didn’t stop the flow of the mothering hormones and milk in Borsa’s body.
Mum reported seeing Borsa feeding her four months old son again. Not only that, Borsa was treating him like a new born kitten over-protecting him from other cats — attacking whoever dared to come near them, hiding him under her belly for warmth- which of course he found super annoying and kept meowing in protest.
The funny thing was that other big kittens took advantage of Borsa’s situation and started feeding from her too — after having their dinner! It’s amazing to watch Borsa’s small frame surrounded by those big kittens — almost her size — feeding greedily while she purred happily and licked them like her own babies. Nature never fails to amaze me.
Rasha al Raisi is a certified skills trainer and the author of: The World According to Bahja. rashabooks@yahoo.com
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