• 5 months ago
A cat put on the euthanasia list when she became aggressive after the passing of her kittens has found comfort in her human "rainbow baby" after being adopted by a kindhearted family. American shorthair tabby Callie was a very young mom at 11 months old and was discovered as a stray on the streets near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, unable to take care of her babies. She was taken to a local shelter, but after her sick and malnourished kittens passed away shortly after their arrival, Callie became aggressive and visibly upset. The feline would bite, scratch and hiss at her carers, which resulted in her being deemed unadoptable and placed on the euthanasia list. But when her shelter put up a social media post about cats facing euthanasia, Callie was chosen as the cover photo – catching the interest of Julia Stuller, who lives near Milwaukee. Julia had no cats or kids, so she offered to take care of Callie, who was still very aggressive. Having heard about Callie's backstory, Julia adopted a kitten, Mocha, for Callie, too, which began to change her attitude. Callie would follow Julia everywhere and loved to cuddle – but when Julia became pregnant, she worried how Callie might react if Julia's attention was focused on a child of her own. But what transpired over the years that followed was quite remarkable, with Callie becoming instantly attached to Julia's baby, Emma, responding to her cries, wanting to be near her crib, and following her to bed in the evenings. Julia said she believes Callie saw Emma as her "rainbow baby" and shared a series of videos of the pair online.
Transcript
00:00We pretty much saved her life by giving her, you know, something new to love and not just giving up on her.
00:07Julia was looking for a cat when one in particular on the euthanasia list caught her eye.
00:12Something like resonated with me when we saw her at the shelter.
00:15They told us about her history being pregnant and she's very young.
00:21She just like was very malnourished from being on the street and so her babies like didn't survive
00:27and that really like touched my heart but they told us that she had like some severe behavioral problems
00:34and that she wasn't technically adoptable but I said is there any way we can adopt her anyways?
00:39And she took Callie home with her that very day.
00:43And she was actually pretty sweet the first few days and then she started getting more and more aggressive.
00:52She even thought about the possibility of taking her back but knew she couldn't give up on her.
00:58And when Julia found out she was pregnant, everything changed.
01:03And she started like actually cuddling with me and she never cuddled before.
01:07She would like make biscuits on my stomach and she would purr and when I had my baby,
01:15she like immediately just wanted to be with the baby.
01:18Julia told us it was all because Callie got the second chance she deserved.
01:24She changed so much but she was labeled as this bad thing and now she's probably the sweetest cat to ever exist.
01:31She's very patient like she knows that my daughter is a baby and a toddler.
01:38Like oh you're a baby like I love you and I'm never gonna hurt you even if you pull my tail.
01:44My daughter does like to pull her tail and she actually enjoys it.
01:49But if I were to pull her tail, she'd probably turn around and bite me.
01:53And even two years later, Callie still likes to put little Emma to bed and wake her up in the morning.
02:01It's very touching to the heart seeing her play with my daughter and seeing her comfort my daughter.
02:08I cried a little bit the first time that we saw her doing that.
02:13I was just like I can't believe like we pretty much saved her life by giving her, you know,
02:20something new to love and not just giving up on her.
02:23I feel like animals have feelings just like us.
02:26I think she was grieving her kittens that she had lost and she was probably very confused.
02:31Even when humans lose a baby, especially like miscarriages or like stillbirths, it's very hard.
02:39And there's really no pain that compares to losing like your child.
02:44And she lost her children when she lost her kittens.
02:49Hi!
02:51Aww, so sweet.
02:54And then my daughter being born really helped her heal in the fact that she ended up getting like her rainbow baby,
03:03like her baby after loss.
03:05And I think my daughter just healed her in that way.

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