Gillian was very young when she had her first litter, only about 7 months old.

I had been letting her out in the yard for awhile, never dreaming she might get pregnant! I never had much extra money though, or I certainly would have gotten her spayed.

Over the years, she had 42 babies! I get ashamed when I think of that now, and every "baby" I have had since, I have gotten spayed or neutered first off, no matter what I have to put off paying, so they are safe and healthy.

When I got married, after several years I had a baby of my own. Gillian became his *volunteer nanny*. She would lay by him when he was sleeping, and the minute he started tostir, she was out after me, meowing and patting me on the leg or foot, telling me to "Get in there and take care of your baby!"

Again after several years, I got divorced. It was extremely hard on me and I cried often and a lot. Gillian would get on my lap, stretch up and put both paws around my neck, rubbing her face on mine, licking off tears, and making little noises like she was comforting me. It was a comfort, too, having something truly love you that much!

Whenever she had kittens, I would have to sit there with her the whole time, no matter how tired I got. Then she and all the babies would have to be in bed with me to sleep afterward.

She was the best little Mother, and took such good care of her babies. But I found out, it didn't have to be *only her babies*, she would mother anything!

A friend had a Teacup Poodle that died having one puppy. It was a teeny little squirmy thing and obviously needed to be fed. Gillian had babies at the time, luckily, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to see if she could help. Sure enough, she heard the baby noises, saw the tiny thing and scooted it right up with the others and let it nurse its fill! It worked out perfectly fine and she weaned it at six or seven weeks and it went home with the lady who'd lost the mother during the birth.

Another time Gillian had babies, they all died. I don't know why, andshe was so upset. She just cried and cried, then she ran outside. She ran in and out 3 or 4 times before going back to where she had her babies. I was worried about her, so I went to check on her and she was stretched out, purring her head off and NURSING BABIES!!

I didn't know what to think! I picked one up to see it and Oh My Goodness............it was a baby RABBIT! Somewhere outside she had found and kidnapped 3 baby bunnies. (or catnapped maybe).

They lived in the house for about 6 months. I often wondered if she thought "they run kind of funny". She even taught them how to use the cat box! I finally let them go in the field behind the house though. I didn't want a gazillion baby rabbits running around, and I figured they probably bred about that age.

I did find homes for her kids though, unless I decided to keep one, which I did, twice.

One summer, each of the cats had kittens, all about two weeks apart, so I had 3 moms nursing 13 kittens, out in thesun on the patio. It was hilarious to watch though because none of the moms cared about which kittens were nursing, so sometimes they would have all different sizes of babies hanging on them.

My huge male German Shepard LOVED kittens! He was always sneaking up and stealing them, but he would take them into the shed and block the door and let them walk and climb all over him, and try to give them baths! It was really funny and silly! This dog, on his hind legs, was a head and shoulders taller than ME, and weighed about 140 pounds!

OK. I guess there will be a Part III, this is getting long again. Come back.