Cat Bring Home Extra Kitten, Vet Not Sure What It Is

Litter Of Kittens

Everyone was overjoyed when the cat finally made her way back home, but she wasn’t alone. Along with her came a full litter of healthy and energetic kittens. They were adorable! But soon enough, the zoo staff noticed something. She had brought something else back with her and it wasn’t a little kitten.

At first, the doctor thought it was a different-colored kitten, but when she realized what it really was, panic set it.

Pile Of Dirt

It was a cold winter morning and Alice was heading to work as a Zookeeper. That morning, she noticed a small pile of dirt. When she took a closer look, she realized what it actually was.

Monika was so small that she fit into Alice’s hand when she first found her. The tiny kitten was freezing and she had icicles stuck to her little nose. Alice wondered if she would make it through her first night.

Weak And Underweight

Alice knew that she couldn’t just leave the kitten, so she decided to stuff her into her jacket before heading to work. When she got to work, the vets did all they could for the poor little creature, then, all that was left to do was wait. Little did they know that Monika was about to stun them all.

Monika miraculously made it through the first night, the second, and the third. Between shifts, workers would come to the staff room to shower her in affection. She was weak and underweight, no one expected her to cause so much trouble once she grew up.

Growing Up

The Ussuriysk Zoo in Russia was home to many animals, including lions, tigers, bears, penguins, and more. This was not an appropriate home for a house cat.

But despite this, the staff at the zoo decided to keep Monika and she grew up there. The facility was her home and everyone there loved her. She got all the affection in the world. But no one could have imagined how much this new member would disrupt the life at the zoo.

Acting Strange

Monika was a year old when she began acting strangely. It all started when she was seen moving around the zoo with a swollen belly. One day, Alice opened the door to her office and Monika slipped out. For over a year, they had managed to keep her mostly inside, only ever letting her leave for short walks on a leash.

But on rare occasions, she would slip out and only return after a few days. That was how she fell pregnant. But this time around, days went by and Monika hadn’t returned. How was she going to fend for herself out there?

Wrong Pen

The staff was worried because if they didn’t find her in time, some of the wild and dangerous animals in the zoo could. Alice spent two full days searching for Monika on the zoo grounds.

Whenever she would pass the crocodile enclosure, her stomach would drop. What if Monika had gotten into the wrong pen? Her colleagues had warned Alice to expect to never see Monika again. But she didn’t listen, she never lost hope.

She Came Back

But eventually, Monika strolled back to her home in the center of the zoo. Alice was the one who spotted her pawing at the glass door. She was overwhelmed with joy. She hadn’t seen her for an entire week.

The cat was perfectly fine, but Alice noticed something strange about her behavior. No one expected the cat to come back like this.

She Changed

Alice never wanted to keep Monika at the zoo. Initially, she wanted to find a safe and loving home, but she just couldn’t say goodbye to the kitten that had stolen her heart.

Monika was adorable and playful, always hiding behind a table cloth and slapping everyone who passed. But since she had returned, things were different. She wasn’t the same kitten Alice had fallen in love with.

Bigger Kitten

When Monika came back, Alice did everything she could to make sure that she was safe and sound. She called the zoo vet and arranged a checkup. Monika was fine, but she had a surprise.

She had returned with a full litter of kittens. She had given birth while she was gone and she returned home with her babies. But one was different from the rest. At first, they thought it was a slightly bigger kitten, but then they realized how wrong they were.

Dangerous

That was when the vet realized that Monika had brought something dangerous into their headquarters, something that shouldn’t have been there.

They had to act fast before the disaster could hit. The vet told Alice that they had to do something about it immediately. What Monika dragged in that day was something they had never seen near a house cat before.

The Truth

After carefully inspecting the animal, they realized that it was a baby lynx. Apparently, after giving birth to her own kittens, Monika found the baby lynx abandoned and took it in. The mother of the baby lynx rejected the baby, so the cat adopted it and nursed it as her own.

When she returned to the zoo headquarters, she brought both her kittens and the lynx kitten. The staff couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Monika’s maternal instincts had saved the baby lynx.

Savior

The cat called Monika had nursed the tiny lynx kitten, whose mother could not care for her due to health problems, and rejected the kitten.

The Ussuriysk Zoo staff assessed the state of the lynx and realized that it was healthy and thriving. Monika, who had only given birth herself two days before, welcomed the baby into her family as if she was one of her own.

One Month After

The lynx reached about one month of age under Monika’s care and enjoyed playing with her new brothers, the “normal” kittens.

However, the lynx was a little bigger than the cats, and Monika couldn’t carry her anymore like the other kittens. She used other means and tried to push the lynx baby in the right direction with her paws. It was the cutest thing ever.

Adopted

The zoo staff said that Monika adopted the lynx cub, and it would stay with her until it grew a little bigger.

Monika nursed the baby and cared for it as if it were her own, and that impressed everyone, even if they could say they’d seen a lot of weird things while working at the zoo. But they never saw anything like that.

Famous

The mixed feline family became famous as soon as the zoo posted the photos on their social media accounts. Everyone was happy that the baby lynx was saved.

The people praised Monika for her initiative and ability to ignore the barrier between species when it came to a little creature in need. The cat acted quickly and saved the lynx’s life. Their story was shared thousands of times and reached people all over the world. But this wasn’t the first time a cat’s motherly instincts crossed the species barrier.

Amazing Cat

There are many felines at the Sadgorod Zoo, you’d expect to see the likes of leopards, tigers, and lions, right? Well, there’s also Muska the cat.

She is admired by everyone at the zoo including the visitors and the zookeepers alike. But when they noticed what she was looking after, they couldn’t believe it.

Baby Muska

Muska was discovered as a kitten by a zookeeper named Alice. One morning she heard meowing coming from a nearby bush right outside the zoo.

It was a tiny kitten. Alice was a zookeeper for a reason, she loved animals. She scooped up the little furball and took it to safety inside the zoo.

Vulnerable

Muska wasn’t doing too well when she was found. She was scared to death and vulnerable out in the cold. Her mother was also nowhere to be seen.

It doesn’t matter how Muska was left alone in the bush, because in the end she was saved by Alice by complete luck. But luck couldn’t last forever.

Alice

Alice couldn’t believe it when she landed her dream job. She loved going to work each and every day and had worked there for 8 years before finding little Muska.

But she had no idea what the animals got up to behind her back when she wasn’t looking. She had never anticipated what would happen when a new arrival came.

Muska

When Muska had been carried into the zoo by Alice, she was looked at by the vet who kept a close eye on her for the next few weeks. She surprised everyone when she made a full recovery.

Alice said, “I knew the moment I laid eyes on Muska that there was something special about her.” She didn’t know how true her statement would turn out to be.

Getting Accustomed To Her New Home

Muska got more and more confident as she grew up and decided to explore more and more of the zoo. The staff was a little worried about this as she would soon walk into the wrong enclosure.

They tried their best to keep her away from the other animals, but she was a little escape artist. And she wanted to visit the other enclosures.

Company

The zoo had a lot of variety when it came to animals – this meant that there were so many dangerous animals too. Alice just hoped that Muska was aware enough to not try to mess with any gorillas or tigers.

Muska was the friendliest feline and would approach everyone with a purr. This was why Alice was worried, what if she tried to befriend something that didn’t want to be friends?

Missing

“I love that cat with all my heart, when she went missing I felt like a part of me died, we spent two straight days looking everywhere for her and we just couldn’t find her anywhere,” Alice recalls when Muska went missing.

Alice couldn’t believe that she had gone missing. She put up signs and even called her name out every night. But then something happened.

Out Of The Blue

Alice was prepared to do anything to find her Muska. Just as her worry grew to a boiling point, she found her sitting on the stairs, waiting to come in.

Alice’s eyes grew wide as she cried in relief. She picked her up and hugged her tight. She brought her inside and fed her, she seemed famished. But something was different.

Something’s Different

As cool as a cucumber, Muska arrived back to the door of the keeper’s office and waited at the door to be let in. To Alice, her baby had come home but soon, she’d realize something changed.

At first, Alice just thought the change of behavior was just from the tiredness of being missing for a few days. But as the days passed, she began to wonder if there was more to it. And there was.

Missing Again

When Muska went missing for a second time, Alice wasn’t worried. She had made her way home before, so she could do it again. She was a smart cat and Alice trusted her to return this time.

However, when a storm began to brew, Alice began to worry about Muska, especially now that she appeared to be slower than usual. She decided to go out and look for her. There was no way she could have prepared for what she found.

Closer And Closer

Alice patrolled the zoo grounds and then she heard it. A faint meowing coming from a bush, just like the first time she found her. Alice walked over to the bush in quiet hopefulness that Muska would be waiting for her.

The meows grew louder and she walked gently over. She peered into the bush, careful not to frighten her and could not believe what she saw right in front of her eyes.

Muska The Mom

Alice marveled at the sight of her dear Muska with not only a litter of kittens but a clutch of baby hedgehogs! All of the youngsters were suckling at Muska, despite their spikes.

It must have been uncomfortable for Muska but her mothering instincts had kicked in. Alice had never seen anything like this in all of her years working with animals. How was this possible?

Unusual Relationships

Animals are long known to form curious bonds with eachother, whether it’s two preditors that would usually battle it out in the wild or a snake and hamster that form a curious friendship at meal time.

Stories of animal’s incredible and unlikely friendships fill the web and almost always capture the imagination of everyone watching! That’s exactly what happened with Muska and her hedgehogs.

Searching For Answers

How was it that Muska came to adopt these random tiny litter of hedgehogs? Where was their mother and how did they end up with Muska at all?

Alice found herself once again looking high and low for another runaway animal mom who had left her babies behind or forgotten about them. But no matter how hard Alice and the zoo staff looked, they couldn’t find the mother hedgehog anywhere.