Super-Mom Melody

Melody was left at the end of the shelter's driveway during a rainstorm. When found the next morning, she was soaking wet and covered in her own feces and urine.

Our staff quickly discovered that Melody was also pregnant. In April, Melody gave birth to three kittens – Holly, Paisley, and Bridget. She was a very attentive and overprotective mother. While she enjoyed cuddles, she did not like letting our staff handle her babies while they were still very young. Melody was a big believer that mom always knows best!

Melody's mom-instinct came out in full-force just a month later. In May of 2020, a black and white kitten named Duncan was dropped off at the shelter. At only 3-4 weeks old, Duncan still needed to be nursed. Although our staff initially planned to bottle feed him, Duncan had plans of his own. He spent hours crying out for attention, and Melody would call back. After noticing Melody's reactions to his cries, our staff decided to place him in her enclosure. Melody adopted him as one of her own immediately, although he looked like an oddball next to her own litter! Soon after, a 3-4 week old gray kitten arrived. Our staff named her Reagan and once again watched as Melody instantly accepted Reagan into her strange little family.

Weeks later, a new litter of five orange kittens arrived at the shelter – Apollo, Loki, Thor, Blossom, and Magnolia. They were only days old and had not even opened their eyes yet. Without a mother to nurse them, they would not survive. Melody's kittens had just been weaned off of her, and our staff couldn't imagine she'd be willing (or able) to take on five more. To everyone's amazement, though, Melody once again took them in. She took them one by one, arranged them in the back of her enclosure, and immediately started grooming them.

During her seven month stay at the shelter, Melody nursed and raised a total of ten kittens, seven of which were not her own. She was as attentive and protective over each kitten she cared for, no matter where they came from. Each of her ten kittens were eventually adopted into loving homes. They survived and found families because of Melody.

Melody also finally found her own forever family in September of 2020. She’s officially retired from being a mom, and it’s now her turn to get pampered.

“Animal lovers are a special breed of humans, generous of spirit, full of empathy, perhaps a little prone to sentimentality, and with hearts as big as a cloudless sky.” -John Grogan