Thursday, January 17, 2013

Flashback Friday - Leia Part V

We did a series of flashbacks on the mom's first cat Leia near the end of last year, but the mom's lobotomy, brainectomy and the holidays interrupted them.  So here, FINALLY, is the last post about Leia. (The other parts are here:  Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV)

Leia in the snow wearing her Dolly Parton collar
(gold with rhinestones).

When the mom took Leia in, she was about half way through her pregnancy.  Her Gotcha Day was August 22 and the kittens' Birthday Day was September 20.  In the middle of that night the mom woke up to the sounds of a brand new kitten.

She went to Leia to pet and comfort her but was secretly worried about the the kittens being born healthy.  She tried to get up but Leia meowed pitifully when she did, so she stayed and petted her throughout the rest of her labor.  The mom had to close her eyes when the next kitten was born (she is SUCH a wuss!), but watched when the third kitten was born.  It was her first time witnessing a birth.  Eventually Leia had four sons.

From left to right:  Shadow, Figaro & Attila.
The fourth kitten looked similar to Shadow.

Leia was such a good mom. She took excellent care of her babies and she put up with all of their antics.  Leia hated her tail being touched, but she allowed the kittens to play with it as long as they liked.  Her expressive face told how much she hated this activity as she angrily flicked her tail about but she handled it with good grace and never denied her babies such a fun pastime.

A web photo, but it looks just like Leia.

One day the mom came home from work and she couldn't find the kittens (they were living in her bedroom).  Frantically, she looked everywhere over and over again.  No kittens.  She was desperate and knowing it made no sense, started to become afraid Leia had eaten them.

Finally she found them in a bookcase up on a high shelf.  She gave them a new nesting box (again) and moved the first kitten in it.  As she moved the second kitten, Leia carried the first one back to the bookcase shelf.  When the mom moved the third kitten to the box, Leia took the second to the bookcase.  And so on.  Realizing this could go on for a very long time, the mom moved 2 kittens at a time, and Leia gave up.

Leia & Attila

The kittens found a small space they fit in but Leia could not.  Poor Leia would call to them while they were in their "clubhouse" but they would ignore her and huddle in a kitten pile for a little nap.  There's enough kitten stories that we'll save them for another flashback.

A web photo of a Korat
They all look the same, 
except for slight differences.

Leia was a tolerate, loving mom who set a good example of what a mother should be.  Everyone should be so lucky to have such a great mom.  So long as her kittens needed her, they were her life.

 The mom found good homes for three of them and kept the one the other people didn't pick.  Naturally, Leia and Attila were close life long friends.  She never did wean him.  Luckily he lost interest but it was long after he was bigger than her.  It drove the mom nuts!  Even worst than kitties picking their toes in bed at night.


Whenever someone makes a negative comment about the type of mothers cats are, we know they couldn't be speaking from personal experience.  Cat moms are the best!  We've seen plenty of human moms who could learn a thing or two from a cat.

Everyone have a safe and enjoyable weekend!

22 comments:

The Furries of Whisppy said...

What a good Mamacat Leia was! It sounds so much like Meow-Me when she had Coco and Felix. Mommy watched MM give birth to them too (and she scrunched up her face as they came out). And despite having been spayed, Felix continued to, well, uh behave like a *baby* (he's past 2 years old!) which really agitates Mommy. MOL.

Summer at sparklecat.com said...

A lot of human moms could learn lessons from cat moms, IMO!

Fr. Tom Fish said...

We totally agree about humans learning how to be moms from kitties. We've seen how loving they can be!

We <3 Leia!

Cats Herd You said...

The Dolly Parton collar made us MOL! She sounds like she was a great mom indeed.

The Island Cats said...

Leia was a great mom...and her babies were adorable! Thanks for sharing Leia's story with us.

da tabbies o trout towne said...

oui, this bee an AWESUM storee N we loved hearin bout leia N her wee babeez...!!! thanx for sharin.....N yur momz lobotomy werked grate spesh a lee sinz her can rememburr all thiz...R mom canna rememburr what her did this mornin :) hope everee one haza grate week oh end !!!

Pat Hatt said...

Wow, she was a wonderful mom and they sure can show humans a thing or ten. Laughed at thinking they were eaten haha

Mariodacat said...

For sure Cat moms are the greatest. Those kittens are sooooooo cute!

Julia Williams said...

Lovely post! Cat moms are the best! I laughed at the part about trying to move the kittens to a more suitable "nest" while Mom keeps moving them back.

meowmeowmans said...

That was a great flashback! Leia was such a great mom. And you are right ... lots of human moms could learn a thing or two from cat moms! :)

Have a wonderful weekend, sweet pals!

Timmy Tomcat said...

We really love this story of Mom Leia. Of course we think cats make wonderful Moms. Where would we all be without Mom?

Our Pops had a kitty named Pee Girl. She would insist he had his hand on her while she delivered. She would wait till he was home to have her kits. A purrfect Mom of course

Texas, a Cat in... Austin said...

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story! Leia must have been happy to have found a furrever home such as yours =^.^=
The kittens were adorable too!
Purrs

Cherry City Kitties said...

Thanks for sharing Leia's story with us. What a good momcat she was... even with all those kitten hi-jinx!
Harry, Dexter and Tipp

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

Leia sounds like she was a great mom, and her kittens were adorable.

Anonymous said...

That is true, most definetly plenty of real moms who could learn a thing or two about all animal moms! Great post I enjoyed learning about Leia!:)

GLOGIRLY said...

Such a beautiful story. xoxo
Thank you so much for sharing it.
xo, Katie & Glogirly

Gigi said...

This reminded the Human of a story about BooBoo one of her Kitties that Came Before. BooBoo was an EXCELLENT mother to her kittens, and eventually all of them were given to good homes. Except one had to be returned because of a landlord problem. Angela was about 5 months old when she came back, and BooBoo was all: "Hey! What's this??? You were GONE! I'm DONE with you! Get lost, kitten! And that's how life was for the next 15 or 16 years. Then, sadly, one day Angela had to be helped across the Bridge. When the Human came back from the vet's empty-handed, BooBoo could not believe her good fortune! That kitten was finally gone! BooBoo lived another 2 or 3 years, and they were the happiest years of her life. Ha ha ha!

A Tonk's Tail said...

Mowzers Faraday was weaned too early so he doesn't have such nice kitty-mom memories. How lovely for Attila!

Mark's Mews (Marley, Lori, Loki, and Binq) said...

I had a cat who had kittens once and watched them being born. It was a LONG time ago, but I remember how she moved them several times. Never to a book shelf though! ~ TBT

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Leia was a very good MomCat. You are so right that hooman Moms could learn a lot from cats!

Anonymous said...

Leia must have had the patience of Job!

Willow said...

Leia was such a good Mommy for her kits thanks for letting us know about the ones that came before she was quite the inner beauty.