Pregnancy is a wonderful time for many expectant parents, and it’s even more special when you get to share the experience. “Mama, wife, and lover of life,” Lauren Maners had her husband by her side, but she also bonded with a cat named Dove, who happened to be pregnant at the same time.
Maners has a long history of fostering and rehabilitating animals, but when she was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she decided to take a break in order to focus on caring for her baby. However, on the day she made her “no more fostering for now” decision, she spotted an injured cat at the side of the road and knew she had to help her. When she and her husband checked on the cat, Maners discovered that the cat was heavily pregnant, too. She felt she had a connection with the feline immediately, and decided to scoop her up into her jacket and bring her to the vets.
After being nursed back to health, the couple took the cat, renamed Dove, home and got her settled. While attempting to find the cat’s original owners, Maners discovered that she was a stray and had been eating out of a dumpster of a nearby café for over a year. With that, Maners decided to foster Dove, and the two moms-to-be began to form a close friendship as they moved through the final weeks of their pregnancies. “Me and Dove bonded instantly,” Maners told My Modern Met. “It was like she could sense that I was a friend and was there to help. She wouldn’t let my husband even get near her but she would jump up in my lap.” Every morning, Maners and Dove would sit outside on the porch and eat breakfast together. “I would brush her fur and give her pets,” Maners recalls. “She eventually warmed up to all other humans as well but in the beginning it was only me.”
When Maners revealed the double pregnancy on Instagram, she wrote, “Had an exclusive Pregnant Girls Club meeting with my newest rescue, Dove. Anyone want to guess who’s going to pop first?” However, little did she know that she and Dove would actually “pop” at the same time. When Maners went to hospital to give birth to her daughter, Kylie, she returned to discover that Dove had welcomed her own babies into the world. The sweet cat gave birth to six adorable kittens. Maners says, “They were very possibly born at the same time.”
As the kittens grew and began discovering the world, so did Kylie. “When my daughter was 5 weeks old, she began to notice the kittens when I would carry her in there with them to help me feed them and give them some attention,” Maners reveals. “The kittens were also very curious about my daughter as well.”
After several months of enjoying the extended, furry family, Maners and her husband decided it was time to find new homes for the cats. Dove now lives with Lauren’s friend, and the kittens were rehomed close by, so the family can visit them whenever they want. Little Kylie is sure to be a cat lover for life!
When Lauren Maners was pregnant, she and her husband were so excited to welcome their little girl, Kylie, into the world.
On the final weeks of her pregnancy, Maners decided to foster a stray cat named Dove, who was also pregnant.
The two moms-to-be bonded over their shared experience.
While Maners was in the hospital giving birth to Kylie…
Dove gave birth to her six adorable kittens!
Both families spent their first months growing up together.
The cats are now rehomed, and the Maners family is enjoying their life together.
Lauren Maners: Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Lauren Maners.
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