Woman Meets A Stray Mama Cat And They Become The Absolute Cutest Pregnancy Buddies

Lauren Maners has always loved fostering animals, but as she prepared to give birth to her daughter, Kylie, she decided she was going to take a break for a while. 

“I had a long history in fostering and rehabilitating animals, but when I got toward the end of my pregnancy, I decided that it was time to take a break from all of that as the animals I usually fostered/rehabilitated were usually sickly and needed lots of care, which I would not have time for once the baby came,” Maners told The Dodo. 

She was firm in her decision — until she met Dove. 

The same morning that Maners made her “no more fostering for now” decision, she and her husband were driving home from getting breakfast when they spotted an injured cat in an empty parking lot on the side of the road. She immediately had her husband pull over to check and see if the cat was OK, and that’s when she realized that on top of being injured, the cat was also pregnant. 

“I knew that she was in bad shape and also felt a sort of connection to her due to us both being very pregnant,” Maners said. “I managed to catch her by luring her up to me with our leftover food and wrapping her in my jacket, and we brought her to the vet.” 

After being treated at the vet, the couple took the cat, later named Dove, home and got her settled in and comfortable. They asked around to see if she had a family who was looking for her, and instead found out from locals that she had been a stray for most of her life. Maners decided to break her own rule and foster her fellow pregnant mama and her future kittens, and eventually help them all find the perfect forever homes. 

It didn’t take long for Dove to get comfortable in her new home, and it was clear that this was where she was meant to have her babies. The two pregnant moms bonded quickly, and loved spending time together as they moved through the final weeks of their pregnancies. 

“She would follow me around everywhere I went, and loved sitting outside with me in the mornings in our fenced-in area and letting me rub her belly while we ate breakfast together,” Maners said. 

Finally, it was time for Maners to welcome her daughter, Kylie, into the world — and when she returned home from the hospital, she discovered that Dove had given birth to her babies as well. 

“They were very possibly born at the same time,” Maners said. 

Dove had six adorable little kittens, and Maners couldn’t get over how special it was that they’d given birth at the same time. As the kittens grew, so did Kylie, and both of the moms’ babies were able to play together as they got bigger and discovered the world. 

“When my daughter was 5 weeks old, she began to notice the kittens when I would carry her in there with them to help me feed them and give them some attention,” Maners said. “The kittens were also very curious about my daughter as well.”

After months of fostering the sweet little family, Maners and her family found all seven of them the best forever homes. While they were sad that they weren’t able to keep any of them, none of them are very far away, so Maners and Kylie are both able to still see their best friends from time to time. 

“Luckily the mother cat went to live with a friend of mine, so I am still able to get updates on her, and several of the babies went to people I know as well, so I have even been able to visit them,” Maners said. 

Maners went from a "no more fostering while pregnant" rule to fostering a pregnant mom cat and giving birth at the same time as her, and neither she nor her daughter, Kylie, would trade that experience for anything.