A BRAVE mom cat who looked after her kittens in spite of being ‘weak’ and not able to feed them has actually been picked to include as a star on the upcoming Cats Protection charity calendar for 2023.
Polly was confessed to the Cats Protection Warrington Centre with her new-born litter of 4 kittens, weak, hardly able to stand and not able to support her children.
Receptionist at the Centre, Nicola Handley made the brave choice to take both the mom and her kitten’s home with the hope of nursing them back to health.
As the mom’s milk had actually appeared to dry up due to the seriousness of her health problem, Nicola had the tough task of hand-rearing the kittens while still offering convenience and nutrition for Polly.
Nicola said: “Even though Polly was very weak, she was a wonderful mum to her kittens.
“As time went by, she gained strength and her milk returned.
“They stayed with me for a couple of months as they were all underweight and needed extra support before they were ready to be neutered.
Henry and Arthur were adopted along with their mother Polly by the kind receptionist, Nicola at Warrington Cats Protection Centre (Image: Cats Protection Centre)
The former cat care assistant had only recently lost her own furry companion, Masie, due to chronic health issues and expressed having missed the presence of her cat in the house.
After nursing the kittens back to health, Nicola decided she could not part ways with her new family but not having the means to provide a life-long home for them all, she decided to adopt Polly and two of her Kittens, Henry and Arthur.
While the other two kittens who were bonded closely were adopted by a ‘lovely’ family.
Nicola added: “Henry and Arthur are completed bonded to each other; they groom each other, play together, curl up and sleep together all the time.
“Polly still loves the boys very much but does like to have a bit of time to herself too, probably because they can be very boisterous.
“All three of them love to follow me round the house wherever I go; it’s like having three little shadows with me all the time.”
The heart-warming story recorded the attention of the nationwide charity and motivated them to location Polly as the face of ‘Miss June’ in their 2023 calendar.
“When I heard that Polly was going to be in the Cats Protection calendar, I felt incredibly proud of her.
“She had a very difficult start in life but still managed to be a brilliant mum to her kittens. She has gained so much confidence and now, I know I’m biased, I think she looks magnificent,” The brave receptionist said.
Tom Ryan, Interim Head of Retail and Trading at Cats Protection said: “Our 2023 calendars will put a smile on faces up and down the country, illustrating the result of good work done by volunteers and staff at our branches, centres and shops and as a reminder that we do it all for cats.
“Every calendar, diary, box of Christmas cards or hidden treasure bought this season will help cats in need.”
To learn more about acquiring a Cats Protection calendar, visit their website catsprotectionshop.co.uk/
