Shea Prior first observed a stray cat prowling through her yard a few months ago, and she was overjoyed when she eventually came near enough for Prior to feeding her. She’d been feeding her for a few days when she realized the cat was producing milk, indicating that she had kittens nearby.

Prior told The Dodo, “I was patting her and proceeded to take her up and that’s when I noticed she had milk in her and had been feeding some kids.”

Prior was both excited and concerned, and wanted to help the mama cat and her kittens if she could. She looked around but didn’t see any kittens, and offhandedly asked the mama cat where they were.

“I started telling her to show me to her babies, and that I bet her babies were so pretty,” Prior wrote in a post on Facebook.

Prior walked into her yard the next day to water the plants and noticed the mum cat racing towards her — and she wasn’t alone this time.

Prior stated, “She came racing up to me and rubbed on my leg while making her tiny croaking sounds.” “She led me over to my shed, where I noticed two little fluffballs staring back at me. She fell down on her side and began screaming out to them, “Come out and see me!”

The mama cat had grown to trust Prior so much and knew she would help keep her family safe and was so proud to show off her five tiny kittens to her.

At first, the kittens were too scared to come out of hiding — until their mom showed them that it was OK, and they finally got brave enough to come out and meet Prior.

“One of the small grey ones was quite bold and came up to me with his little pointed tail lifted high in the air and instantly allowed me to stroke him,” Prior added. “Eventually, they all came up to me and let me hold and pet them after approximately 10 to 15 minutes.”

Prior knew she had to help the family as soon as she saw them all, and she was able to bring them all safely inside her house. She’d found homes for all five kittens by the time they were old enough to be adopted, and she’d also decided to adopt the mum cat.