When the call came in from a local vets, the situation was already desperate. Two young mum cats, both only around a year old themselves, had been handed in as strays over a single weekend, along with their litter of kittens. Nine cats in total, and nowhere for them to go.
The vets had a particular problem. The two mums were so closely bonded, clearly sisters, that splitting them up felt impossible. From the very beginning they had been co-parenting, taking it in turns to feed and care for all of the babies between them. Whoever took them in would need to take the entire family.
So the calls went out. One rescue, then another, then another. More than ten in total. And every time, the same answer came back: we’re full.
The family nobody could place
It is easy to read “we’re full” as a rejection, but it rarely is. Rescues everywhere are stretched to the limit, and saying no is often the only responsible answer when there is genuinely no space, no funding and no capacity left to give an animal the care it deserves.
We understood that, because we were already busy too. Taking on another nine cats, two nursing mums and a litter of kittens, was a serious commitment at a time when our pens were full and our volunteers were already running on empty.
But this was a family. Two sisters who had refused to give up on their babies, even as strays with nothing to their name. We couldn’t bring ourselves to be the eleventh “no”.
Meet the Toy Story family
They are now safely in our care, and they have quickly become known around here as our “Toy Story family”.
The two mums and sisters are Jessie and Bo-Peep, still so young themselves yet completely devoted to their kittens. Between them they are raising Woody, Buzz, Bullseye, Rex, Slinky, Wheezy and Buttercup, a noisy, tumbling, ever-hungry bundle of personalities who are all now warm, fed and safe.
Watching Jessie and Bo-Peep share the feeding and the washing, never quite sure whose kitten is whose, is a reminder of why we do this. These two had every reason to give up. They didn’t.
Why this keeps happening
Here is the part that should give us all pause. Both mums are only around a year old. They were barely more than kittens themselves when they had their own.
Cats can begin breeding from as young as four months, which means an unneutered female can become a mother long before she is fully grown. Every litter born without a home adds to the pressure on rescues that are already full, and it is exactly how families like this one end up with nowhere to turn.
Neutering is the single most effective way to stop this cycle before it starts. Once Jessie and Bo-Peep have finished raising their kittens, they will both be neutered, so they never have to go through this again.
It is quiet, unglamorous work, but it is the difference between endlessly responding to crises and actually preventing them.
How you can help
Nine cats taken in when ten other rescues couldn’t. Pens kept warm, food in bowls, vet care and neutering all to come. None of it happens without the people who choose to support us.
Every member of our Toy Story family is safe tonight because someone, somewhere, decided to help.
If you are able to, please consider giving whatever you can. Whatever the amount, it goes straight into keeping cats like Jessie, Bo-Peep and their kittens warm, cared for and out of harm’s way.