The orange tabby cat, Kathryn, has been looking for a family to call her own since since she was discovered in an empty rental unit.

The mother cat was discovered by the new tenants, who sought assistance from Langebaan Animal Care in South Africa. Sadly, it was too late to save Kathryn’s infant children.

Izelle Marallich, the chairman of Langebaan Animal Care, adopted Kathryn, and she started pleading for the affection she had lost along with her babies as soon as she got there.

“She was extremely affectionate and was not scared of any of my foster dogs — [she] walked right up to them and rubbed herself against every one of them,” Marallich told. “She had to sleep with a person and hold on to you. It was like she could not get enough love.”

But, even with her foster family, Kathryn still mourned her past: “She was very restless, however, and would cry looking for her babies,” Marallich said, “which was heartbreaking.

The arrival of an abandoned litter of pups at the home caused Kathryn’s life to shift once more. Kathryn immediately bonded with the puppies and started crying out to them whenever they cried out for food. She licked the puppies, trying to calm them.

They first reacted rather erratically and tried to get away from her, but she persisted in going over to groom them, according to Marallich. She simply lay down next to them and never left their side as they became accustomed to her licking them.

The puppies quickly grew accustomed to Kathryn, and eventually started nursing. From that moment, Kathryn felt complete again.

“She stopped being restless and crying and just slept day and night with them,” Marallich said. “[She] even ate the puppy food we gave them. They were happy and she was happy!”

Ever the loving mother, Kathryn spent all of her time taking care of her adoptive puppies. She let them suckle from her whenever they wanted, slept with them, and groomed them.

She is quite protective of them and became agitated when they strayed outside of the playpen and away from her, according to Marallich. She would call and follow them the entire time, and she was only content when they came back to be with her.

Marallich said, “I have never seen such a committed and caring mother.” She stayed at their side all day and all night.

Since then, every puppy has found a forever home. And now Kathryn must take care of two new infants: a pair of abandoned kittens that were found to be orphans in a field. The newborn kittens have a shot of survival because of Kathryn.

She has a lot of people interested in adopting her, but for the time being, Marallich said, “she will remain with us and continue being a loving and caring mom to orphaned animals.” Marallich feels tremendously blessed to have met such a great cat.