When a kitty was brought into Langebaan Animal Care in South Africa, she was really heartbroken. She had recently had babies but she had lost them, and when she was taken in by the shelter staff, she was super clingy. She had to be around the staff all the time, and she tried to touch them as much as possible.

“She was very unsettled,” a staff member from Langebaan told The Dodo. “She cried a lot. She needed affection a lot. She was on top of us and wanting to hold us.”

Apparently, the fact that she had recently become a mother had made her more sensitive and affectionate towards others, and she desperately needed close contact with them. And all this made her uneasy- until she met a litter of puppies.

Some time after the cat was brought into the shelter, a few puppies were brought in as well. They were only about three weeks old and nobody wanted them, so they had to be taken in by the shelter staff.

As soon as the cat saw them, she felt the need to protect them. She went near them, licked them and cleaned them- she practically treated them as if they were her own babies.

Little by little, the puppies realized that the kitty wanted to “adopt” them, and they started feeling at ease around her. When they realized that she also had milk to provide, they started nursing without thinking twice!

“They were really confused until they actually realized the comfort, I think. And, eventually, they started nursing on her. They took to her.”

And that was only when the kitty stopped crying. She didn’t have to ask for anyone else’s attention anymore. She had her babies to take care of. And she did such a great job with them. She kept looking out for them, licking and cleaning them, and of course feeding them with her milk.

Eventually, the puppies grew up enough to be able to be given out to adoptive families. They were all adopted eventually, but they never forgot their cat mom, so they are brought back every now and then to visit her.

“[The pups] all found loving homes- with cats in their new homes. But they still come to visit her.”

Now that it’s “cat season” at the shelter, they have a lot of kittens brought in. Our friend does her best to feed and take care of them all- looks like she was born to be a mother. Of course, she too has a home to go to when she’s done nurturing the newcomers, and she will go there once the kittens don’t need her milk anymore.

This heart-warming story is a reminder that there are values and feelings that go beyond species and that we can all help others when they need us, no matter what they look like or where they come from.

You can watch the whole story in the video below.

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Source: Facebook, Langebaan Animal Care