A friendly and gorgeous calico cat, Rihanna, was a heavily pregnant stray trying to scrape by in the Quincy, Illinois, area. Fortunately, rescuer Liv from “House of Six Cats” took her in after seeing a post about her on Facebook.
After giving birth, Rihanna would be spayed, but with her kittens due any day, she would raise her final litter in safety. The local Humane Society helped provide full medical care for pretty Rihanna and her babies.
When Rihanna arrived, you could see the kittens kicking inside her tummy. After ten days of “baby watch,” the big day came, and she gave birth to three cute kittens. Excited foster mom Liv felt like a Grandma cheering on Rihanna as each kitten arrived. There were two boys and a girl.
One never knows how a young mama cat will behave, but Rihanna was the best mom ever.
Mama Rihanna with her babies. Images and media via TikTok/houseofsixcats
Videos via TikTok/houseofsixcats
Rihanna Meets Surprise Bonus Baby
Then, two days later, foster mom Liv got a surprise, and so did Rihanna. Someone called to say they had a newborn kitten that needed help.
“I knew that Rihanna would be the perfect mom for this job,” Liv said.
So she carefully introduced the newborn “bonus kitten” outside the cardboard box. A viral TikTok showed how Rihanna quickly snatched that kitten to place with her litter like one of her own.
“She accepted this baby the second we set it outside of her box,” Liv wrote.
“The quickness at which she yoinked that baby 😂,” someone commented.
In another version of the TikTok, Liv added funny requested audio, “You’re coming home with me.”
Rihanna and Babies: Slim Shady, Drake, Umbrella, and Paul
We’ve shared before there are serious risks in introducing newborn kittens to a nursing mama cat.
Rihanna was a very protective, nurturing mama for all the chunky babies, including “the biggest newborn kitten” Liv had ever seen, Drake, the orange boy. His orange brother is Eminen, the Slim Shady. Their sister is Umbrella, and the Bonus Baby is Paul, after Paul McCartney, who performed with singer Rihanna.
And just like that, all five grew up and started a new chapter, adopted through the Quincy Humane Society. Rihanna and Mama’s boy Slim Shady were a bonded pair adopted together. You can see much more of them on the House of Six Cat’s TikTok.
Image via Facebook/Quincy Humane Society
Saving Kittens to Be Someone’s Best Friend
Foster mom Liv started out fostering puppies, volunteering with the Humane Society in 2018. At the time, she didn’t even know she was a cat person. Then in the spring of 2019, she started bottle-feeding two tiny kittens, and she’s helped over 150 cats and kittens since then. Her viral TikToks have quickly gathered over a million devoted followers.
Fostering brings a rollercoaster of emotions, from joy to grief and sadness. One of the hardest parts is saying goodbye after getting emotionally attached to the furbabies, especially the bottle babies.
“I just try to remember that I saved this kitten so they could be someone else’s best friend,” she shared in an “Emotional Duct Tape” podcast about coping with the full range of fostering experiences.
But Liv gets excited to see each one adopted at the Humane Society or occasionally through her TikTok. Frequently, she gets updates on how her kittens are doing and has fun friendships with adopters.
“It is really awesome when I get to see them grow up in other people’s homes,” she said.
Although there have also been many tragic losses, dealing with grief hasn’t stopped her from caring for more kittens. A GoFundMe to help Liv save the home where she fosters has helped raise over $16K with an over $33K goal for major structural repairs.
Rihanna’s babies, Paul the “Bonus Baby” in front with orange brothers Drake and Slim Shady. Sister Umbrella on the right.
