It was mid-October 2024 when Heidi received a plea for help regarding a family of cats in New York. She faithfully runs Heidi Wrangles Cats out of Brooklyn. In 2023 alone, she rescued more than 230 cats from the streets. Not to forget about more than 50 cats that were TNR’d and will no longer add to the homeless cat population! And she’s likely seen every temperament of feline; sweet, sour, salty and stinky! But this time was obviously different from the get go.
These gorgeous cats had clearly been dumped and abandoned.
Thankfully they were being cared for by a person on their porch area. Mama was named “Mama Dill” and dad cat was “Pickles”. They also had a cousin Tortie cat named “Trouble” who looks shockingly like our own Zig Zag
Left: Pickles, Right: Mama Dill
Mama Dill
Trouble
Zig Zag
But mama cat had one more surprise for her rescuers. Mama Dill and Pickles had a litter of 4 kittens and had stashed them in between two 6-foot fences! They were of course, just out of reach. 
So Heidi made a plan.
Since the stunning family was being monitored by caring humans, they could keep an eye on the babies. The “adult” cats would be secured by using traps. And due to their friendly and fear free nature, the plan went off without a hitch. Heidi even managed to capture Pickles and Trouble in the same trap! 
Round 2: The Kitten Rescue
They knew that they were NOT going to be able to reach the neonatal kittens between the fences by hand. So what they did come up with was genius! During the planning session, one of the feeders laid down a blanket on the ground near the babes. Before mama had been liberated, she thankfully had moved all her babies to the soft and warm blanket and off the hard and dirty ground. They were now in the perfect position to also be rescued.
Because that said blanket had ropes tied to each corner, that when lifted slowly, created a little “bowl” for the babies to be raised up in. Absolute standing ovation for whomever thought of that. 
So slowly they began raising the kittens up through the narrow area. And knowing that cats will do what cats do, one of the babies wiggled his way right out of the blanket, falling about 4 feet! They reset the blanket and happily were able to get him to crawl into the blanket, pushing his little “toosh” with a tiki torch stick. He was NOT thrilled about it but all that mattered was the family was now safe and needed to be reunited.
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Sour to Sweet
Once back at “Chez Heidi”, the family was reunited. Mama was weary in a new place but when she saw her little ones again, she made her way directly to the pile of waiting mouths. But then an even SWEETER thing happened. Pickles and Trouble spent the day at a vet being fixed. When papa Pickles was brought back, he immediately joined his sweetheart in the cage with the kittens. There is NOTHING sour about this papa cat.
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Heidi does have a skill for naming the numerous litters and fosters that are welcomed into her home. And this litter was no exception.
The cuteness of these little sweet and sour pickle slices cannot be overshared.
“Class photos of our newest pickle kids, Half Sour (m), Gerkin (m), Cornichon (f), and Relish (f). Who were not interested in having their photos taken as you can see😅 they’re already growing so fast and becoming much more active and playful!”
The comments on the post were classic too. “It has to be Relish who fell out of the blanket”, one person noted. “It was” replied Heidi.
The kittens and family are well on their way to enjoying a new happy indoor life. One where they will never be discarded.
Hopefully Mama Dill and Pickles stay together and can enjoy the sweet life going forward. 
Photos and videos from @HeidiWranglesCats
