Domestic cat surrogates wild genet kittens
Two newborn, orphaned genet kittens in need of motherly care were fortunate to cross paths with a domestic cat who had just lost her kittens at a pivotal moment.
Kittsie proved to be the best surrogate, and her human mother, Maryna Buys said, without Kittsie stepping in and taking charge of the newborn genets, she does not think they would have survived.
On September 26, Buys received a call from a lady asking her if she wanted two genet kittens found on a train track in Thornville. Their mother had been killed, and when Buys received them, the kittens still had their umbilical cords attached.
“We got them a bottle and kitten milk and tried bottle-feeding them. It wasn’t an easy task. We were struggling to get them to take a bottle, when suddenly my domestic cat, Kittsie, heard the kittens meowing and went crazy.”
Kittsie had given birth to her litter a week before, but sadly, none of her kittens survived.
“At first we were afraid that she might hurt them as she literally wanted to grab them from our hands when she heard them crying. I thought I’d take a chance and put them with her just to see how she would handle them.”
Kittsie took the kittens under her wing immediately as if they were her own.
“She started licking them from head to toe and they immediately started searching for her teets. I felt a sigh of relief knowing that these babies will be okay, that they have found a surrogate mommy to love them, clean them and feed them,” Buys said.
Kittsie would not allow anyone to take the kittens from her, and Buys had to sneak in to check they were okay whenever Kittsie wasn’t with them. For three weeks, Kittsie remained an excellent surrogate, until the genets started to grow and become a bit wild.
Buys then contacted FreeMe and arranged for the genets to go there. “I was happy that we had found the perfect place for them that will allow them to go back where they belong,” she said.
The kittens arrived at FreeMe last Thursday, where they are being bottle fed until they can be released into the wild.
However, poor Kittsie is missing her adopted kittens terribly. “She walks all over the house crying for them or comes to me and meows as if she’s asking me where they are,” said Buys, adding that Kittsie was the best surrogate mother to them.
“All she wanted to do is be a mommy to those baby genets. I believe we would not have been able to care for them without her.”
FreeMe Wildlife Centre Clinic manager Kirsten Steytler said the two genets are settling well into their new home.
“They are sucking beautifully and growing quickly. They will stay here a few months and will be placed in a natural enclosure where they will learn all the skills they need to be a genet in the wild,” she said.