Community Corner

Tomcat Tenderness

The life of an un-neutered tomcat is a carefree love 'em and leave 'em lifestyle, right? Not always. This cat dad stuck around to care for his kittens.

Zen is one cool cat.

He's also very unusual in that he's a paws-on dad to his three young cat children.

Animal rescuers are accustomed to coming across stray mother cats with kittens. Female cats that are not spayed and un-neutered male cats can create multiple litters in a year, every year, starting at a young age. It's an ongoing population explosion that animal advocates work to stem because there simply aren't enough homes for all the cats born annually.

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It usually goes like this: un-fixed cats mate, female cat gets pregnant, male cat goes his merry way.

Only sometimes it doesn't go like that.

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LifeLine Animal Project recently rescued an abandoned cat with three kittens and upon inspection found they had an anomaly: a "Mr. Mom" male cat, looking after his babies the best he could. It is unknown what happened to the kitten's mother.

"He's actually a great baby daddy," said Mickie Blair with a smile. Blair, who serves as LifeLine's cat rehabilitation director, continued, "He did fine raising the babies."

The shining example of feline fatherhood was promptly named Zen, for his laid back personality and serene style of parenting. He happily spent hours with his kittens laying all over him and would gently correct their behavior and patiently deal with their kitten antics.

The kittens are in a foster home now because living in a busy shelter is not optimal for young animals who are still building their immunity. They will soon be available to go to new homes.

Zen is getting some rest while waiting to be adopted.

He's probably between one and two years old, he's very healthy and the staff of LifeLine says he's "sweet" and will make someone a wonderful pet.

"He just wants someone else to love now," said Blair of the newly-neutered Zen.

If your life and home could benefit from some of Zen's zen, please contact mblair@lifelineanimal.org.


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