Maura was believed to be about 8 months old. She was all black with the exception of a small white patch on her chest and another small white patch further down on her abdomen.
In March 2010, I was recovering from surgery (I was spayed!), and counting the days until I could have more fosters. I had promised Fred I would take the whole 6 weeks to recover from surgery, and I had (I think) just passed 4 weeks. Then I got an email from the shelter manager.
A shelter in Tennessee needed someone to take a pregnant cat (that they’d rescued from a kill shelter), and could I?
COULD I? But of COURSE. We’ve only had one pregnant mother cat in the past – Kara – and I enjoyed the experience so much that I couldn’t wait to experience it again. I said “yes!” immediately.
So a few days later I got Maura and I brought her home. She wasn’t HUGELY pregnant, but she certainly had the belly. I got to work making sure she had plenty of good food to eat, and snacks at least a couple (if not three) times a day. There was going to be no malnutrition in THIS house!
Maura settled in, and we found that she was a sweet and friendly girl, not at all shy. She was interested in what was going on outside of her room, but also just as happy to stay in her room. She ate, she napped, she snuggled with me, occasionally we’d hear her playing.
And she grew. Her tummy grew and grew and grew, and we were sure it was going to happen any day now.
Then she needed to go to the vet for another reason, and the vet looked her over and said she couldn’t feel the babies in there. After some discussion – the vet was worried that Maura might have developed Pyometra – it was decided that Maura would be spayed.
As it turned out, Maura was not pregnant. Not only was she not pregnant, she had NEVER been pregnant. She wasn’t pregnant, she was just big-boned. But come on, seriously, look at this belly!
Doesn’t she LOOK pregnant?
So, the spaying was finished, and Maura (as of 4/19/10) is recovering in our foster kitten room for a while. When she’s ready and there’s room at the adoption center, off she’ll go to be adopted.
Edited to update: On May 10th, Maura went to her new home, with Kathy in Birmingham! She never had to go to a cage at the adoption center, and I’m so relieved about that. From all reports, things are going well!
Edited to add: Unfortunately, Maura died unexpectedly at the beginning of July. Kathy and her husband were very sad to lose this sweet girl, but I can tell y’all that Maura’s last few months were full of lots of love.
You can read about Maura beginning with this entry (there are links at the top of each entry; click on the one on the right to take you to the next one).
See all the pictures I’ve taken of this sweet girl over at Flickr.