Pear and Pineapple

Pineapple and Pear

A story of love, tragedy, and hope.

Pineapple and Pear, along with their two siblings (Grape and Kiwi) were brought into care on September 24th while they were still kicking around in their mum’s belly. Mango is our mamma’s name.

This is their story.

Our most beautiful and brave mother, Mango, was rescued from Griffith pound, pregnant and full-term. Only a kitten herself at 6 months old and suspected to be either an abandoned or ‘lost pet’, Mango finally felt safe when brought into foster care, and delivered 4 beautiful kittens within 24 hours of rescue.

Mango took to motherhood like a fish to water, and doated on her kittens, but something didn’t seem right. Their carer was concerned as to why three of the kittens were not feeding, and on closer inspection, she noticed that they were completely intertwined by the umbilical cord, which was literally chocking them! After rushing to the vets, our amazing vet was able to cut the umbilical cord and save their lives.

Whilst in care, we noticed that Mango wasn’t going to the toilet, and her belly was much bigger than normal, even despite early post-pregnancy. It seemed she was constipated, so was prescribed laxatives to help with bowel movements. Unfortunately, they did not seem to work, so along with her 5-day-old kittens, she was taken back to the vets.

Unfortunately, here unfolds the sorrowful chapter of this story...

Shortly after Mango arrived at the vets, there was a popping feeling around her midsection during examination. She was immediately rushed into surgery, however shortly after being administered the anaesthetic, she crossed over to Rainbow Bridge. It was later determined to be an extremely rare internal rupture. There was nothing that could be done.

Her carers, and all the volunteers at Inner City Strays were heart broken, devastated. But unfortunately, as much as we were all grieving, we also had four, 5-day-old kittens that needed to feed every two hours, and for their survival, it became a matter of absolute emergency to find them a nursing source. Time was of the essence.

Luckily, our four kittens: Pineapple, Pear, Grape and Kiwi (aka The Fruit Platter) were saved due to the sheer heroicness of Inner City Strays volunteers, who banded together to save them. The four babies were split up and taken to 2 lactating mothers. Both mothers accepted the kittens, and all the Mango’s kittens latched. It was truly a miracle.

After Pineapple and Pear were brought back to their original carer, along with their new foster-cat mum (Nella), and her 3 kittens, it was a full household. But over the days, and weeks, Pineapple and Pear continued to thrive, together, and developed a magical and unbreakable bond. They are two peas in a pod and cannot be split up. ..but although they are the best of friends, they also LOVE LOVE LOVE humans. They are very social purr machines, and love being cuddled and cradled by their foster human.

Love is the only thing that they know, which they inherited from their sweet and gentle mum, Mango.