Those Kittens -- A Photo Gallery of a Mama Cat With Her Kittens

Hi, I am Jo Mama and this is the story of how I got pregnant and delivered five adorable little babies, one of whom lives with me still. It was quite some time ago but I remember it well. I was pretty surprised when it happened and really did not understand it, but suddenly, I was getting fat and having these weird movements in my belly. I got so freaked out by the whole thing that I started to act like a baby and get hugs from my human, the one that feeds us every day and opens the windows so we can see out.

So, these strange pains and movements in my stomach started to come more and more frequently and it was the scariest thing I had ever experienced. I tried to ask my human what was happening and although she can't really speak "cat," she seemed to be saying something like "it's okay." I even woke her up a few times in the night because that's when it got worse.

Well, it all happened on June 29th, 2010. My regular human had gone out to who knows where (she seemed to leave almost every day at the same time.) and I was left alone with the other human with the deep voice. He had just come home about an hour ago, and was sleeping. All my pains started to heighten and I resorted to asking him to help me, by meowing loudly. I was pretty scared, so I climbed unto the place where he slept and waited for him to wake up so he could help me.

Well, my stomach kept heaving and I started to shake and after a while, this thing came out of me and it was kind of like a mouse but I just instinctively knew it was another cat, like me: it was my baby. No one had to tell me: we cats just know these things, somehow. But something was very, very wrong with this little baby and it was not moving or breathing. It was so sad and it made my heart ache. I could not concentrate too long because another one was close behind. This one too was not breathing. Had I gone through all of this, just to have complete heartbreak? This was more than I could take!

I hardly had time to think about it, though, because in the next hour, three more little bunches of fur popped out and they were definitely alive! They were all gray, like me, and they were meowing like crazy! They seemed pretty helpless and I was instantly in love. I knew, somehow (no one told me -- I just knew) that they wanted to eat off me. So this is why my teats had gotten so big and uncomfortable in the last few weeks! Everything was all making sense now!

So these little helpless creatures just keep eating and sleeping, for hours! There were three of them and only one of me, and I was exhausted! I really didn't feel good leaving them alone and I was relieved when that deep-voiced human brought me some food and water close by. I just quickly got away for a quick bite before those little ones could notice! And I noticed he also moved the litter box a bit closer, too, which I did appreciate!

Well, I just kept on loving those little things and feeding them and washing them. And they grew and grew until they could see, and then they started to get into everything! And I couldn't control them anymore. I just had to watch as they played, and played, and played! One was named Misha, who looked most like me. The other was named Fuzzball, and she was a bit spinny but beautiful and the last was named Gray Eye and she was a shy little thing.

I was a bit nervous about that other cat in the house, Shiloh, going after my babies, from jealousy, but she actually helped me take care of them. She would watch them while I was away taking a bit of a break or eating. They got to love her, too, and sometimes we would even all take a nap together.

The humans loved them, too, and it was a pretty fun time in our house. The saddest day was when some other humans came and took them away. I was pretty depressed for days but eventually I was able to overcome my grief. My one compensation was that they left the dark gray one called "Gray Eye" here for me to love. So that my story, I'm Jo Mamma. I hope you like these family photos.