Indoors with tabby cat with white markings, two kittens on blue surface, woven rope hammock, home environment, well-lit daytime setting 3:39
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The stray cat whose mom helps raise her kittens

Word came from the caretaker of an industrial property on Vancouver Island. A stray cat had turned up there, and she was pregnant. more

Barbra Sundquist, a volunteer with a local cat rescue in Canada, brought the stray home to foster and named her Cannelloni, after the pasta. At first Cannelloni was terrified of her. She hissed every time Sundquist came near.

A pregnant cat is more hormonal and more protective, so Sundquist did not push. She sat on the floor with a book, or put on a movie, and let Cannelloni get used to having her around. It took patience, and it worked.

Cannelloni came to love her foster mom, and two weeks after she arrived she gave birth to five kittens. Sundquist kept the theme going. The babies became Ravioli, Penne, Gemelli, Gnocchi and Trenette.

A tiny black kitten wrapped in a pink floral blanket rests on a person's hand. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
One of Cannelloni's five pasta-named kittens, small enough to rest in one hand.

Then the new mother got some help from family. Bella is Cannelloni's own mother, and the grandma cat started looking after the kittens right away, working alongside her daughter.

Three generations of cats in one house is a rare sight. Bella, Cannelloni and the five pasta kittens shared the foster home for a while, and before long each kitten left with a new family.

Indoors with tabby cat with white markings, two kittens on blue surface, woven rope hammock, home environment, well-lit daytime setting. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Word came from the caretaker of an industrial property on Vancouver Island.

Cannelloni stayed behind. Sundquist could pet her now, but she doubted a cat who had lived as a stray would settle into life indoors. So she found a family with a barn, where Cannelloni can come and go as she pleases. The cat who once hissed at her has a safe place to be, and Sundquist finds that second chance rewarding.

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