A foster carer’s heartbreaking video of a young tabby cat caring for her own litter of kittens has gone viral on TikTok, highlighting the urgent need for spaying and neutering pets.
The kitten becomes a mother, not a kitten
The video, shared by foster carer Gaby, shows 7-month-old Giselle looking after her kittens in a crate. Gaby wrote: “Giselle is still a kitten but is raising babies instead of playing. She should be a kitten, not a mother.”
Giselle came into Gaby’s care “kinda by accident” after the shelter asked if she could foster the young mother and her five kittens. Gaby, 19, from Wisconsin, agreed, saying “space in a shelter is scarce especially during kitten season.”
While Giselle and her kittens are a “happy family,” Gaby emphasized that “she should have never been put in this position.” Cats can come into heat as young as 4 months old, leading stray and feral cats to become mothers at just 6 months of age.
This often results in complications, with kittens being brought to shelters and, without foster care or a nursing mother, being “quickly humanely euthanized” due to lack of resources.
The young cat’s story shows the plight of uncontrolled reproduction
Gaby urged people to support Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) programs and take advantage of low-cost or free spaying and neutering services provided by shelters. They emphasized that “there can be no ethical breeding of cats and dogs until all the shelters are empty and people learn to spay and neuter.”
Giselle’s story resonated with many TikTok users, who shared their own experiences of young cats becoming mothers. One commenter wrote: “Before I got her, my cat was pregnant at five months old. Her babies are now all twice her size. Her growth is stunted and she will always be tiny.”
Thankfully, Giselle and her kittens are on the path to being fixed and adopted into loving forever homes, where Giselle will “never have to be a mother again.” Gaby hopes Giselle’s story will inspire others to prioritize spaying and neutering their pets.
