MARICOPA, Ariz. (NewsNation Now) — An animal shelter in Arizona found an unusual surprise when a cat gave birth to a litter of kittens, and five of them were conjoined to each other by the skin of their stomachs.
Little Whiskers Animal Rescue took to Facebook asking for help to find a vet to take care of them on Thursday.
“A few days ago we had a person come to our rescue to surrender a mom and babies and instead he brought 29+ cats and kittens,” the shelter said.
They had suspected one of the cats was pregnant but didn’t expect what would happen when they were born.
“All 5 of these kittens shared a placenta as well as one very tiny cord! 2 of the kittens have a conjoined body,” the shelter wrote in its initial post on Facebook. “We’ve seen a lot of crazy things but this is probably one of the most out there ones yet! Mom and babies are at the vet now working to see how to separate them and if they’re viable. While at the vet mom decided she wasn’t done and started having more kittens.”
The kittens began getting separated on Friday and the first to get separated had to have his back leg amputated to be able to remove him fully. The shelter updated on Monday that he died.
“He never showed any signs of distress or pain he just let go,” the shelter said. “His little body was tired.”
Two other kittens died at the vet over the weekend.
“We never expected this to blow up as big as it did and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Please send babies and mama many positive thoughts and good vibes,” the shelter wrote.
They are taking donations for the medical costs.