For the past year, Kate and her fiancé have admired a stray cat in their Los Angeles neighborhood from afar. Kate, who fosters kittens, puppies and nursing moms with litters, is always looking out for the homeless animals in her area, and this one adult
cat — whom she named The Mayor — especially caught her attention.
The Mayor was a true stray, avoiding human interaction whenever possible. Still, Kate, her fiancé and their neighbor became smitten with the elusive cat, whom they assumed was a boy until they made a shocking discovery one day.
“[W]e all thought she was male, so it was very surprising to everyone when my neighbor texted and said she had kittens on his roof!” Kate told The Dodo.
The neighbor, who’d been feeding The Mayor regularly, asked Kate for advice on how to help the mama cat and her litter. Kate immediately expressed concerns about the kittens being exposed to the elements on the man’s roof and knew they couldn’t stay there for long.
“I told him to make sure she was fed, and she would do the rest, but that we needed to move them off the roof ASAP,” Kate said. “The Mayor took matters into her own hands, because shortly after, I heard her meowing outside.”
Before Kate and her neighbor could step in, The Mayor started moving her kittens on her own. They watched as The Mayor carried one of her babies from the hot, sunny roof, balancing on Kate’s fence while relocating them. Then, Kate suddenly heard meowing in her backyard and saw The Mayor looking down at a pile of cinder blocks.
“The Mayor was on the fence … looking down at a pile of cinder blocks, where I could hear a kitten meowing,” Kate said. “She must’ve dropped the kitten trying to make the jump up the fence.”
Without skipping a beat, Kate pulled the kitten out from under the cinder blocks and carried him to her neighbor, who was working to save the rest of the kittens. But when he checked the roof, he realized they were all gone and had no idea where The Mayor had moved them to.
So, they returned the cinder block kitten to The Mayor and watched her carefully, hoping to follow her to wherever she’d placed her other babies.
“That kitten was the only key to finding the rest of the litter,” Kate said.
As they’d hoped, The Mayor promptly carried the cinderblock kitten over Kate’s fence and into her backyard. They watched with bated breath as The Mayor approached a shed in the yard and slid underneath it.
“The Mayor had moved her kittens under that shed,” Kate said. “It was a total surprise; we thought she could’ve moved them farther or into someone else’s property, but luckily she moved them right to me.”
You can watch The Mayor relocate her babies here:
Kate was relieved to see that The Mayor had moved her three kittens to her yard, but she knew the little family would still be vulnerable there. So, with the help of her neighbor, she carefully pulled the kittens out from under the shed and carried them, along with The Mayor, inside her house.
Thankfully, The Mayor and her kittens settled in well at Kate’s house, although the mama cat remained fiercely protective.
“It did not take long for The Mayor to open up; she is so loving and affectionate,” Kate said. “However, she would NOT let me touch her babies for the first few weeks. She was very protective of her kittens after the whole ordeal to get them inside.”
With regular care and a warm, safe home to sleep in, the kittens soon began to thrive. While some experienced medical issues within the first month, such as one kitten overcoming swimmer syndrome and another suffering from an eye infection, they were in the perfect place to heal. And now, the three babies — Rigby, Mordecai and Margaret — are 8 weeks old and stronger than ever.
It won’t be long before the kittens are ready to go to their forever homes, and Kate is currently searching for the perfect families to adopt them. Luckily, her neighbor offered to keep The Mayor, whom he lovingly checks in on every day.
While Kate and her fiancé are considering keeping one of the kittens, their goal is to find the absolute best homes for each little baby. And while they wait to see where The Mayor’s kittens end up, they remain grateful that the stray cat trusted them with her precious little family.
“They are all doing so well!” Kate said. “We hope to find great homes for them!”
