Once they’re weaned, cats aren’t usually very sentimental about their dear old mom and all she’s done for them. To make up for that neglect, this article honours several mother cats who came to RAPS’ Cat Sanctuary with their kittens and who still have at least one of them nearby. You can read more about them and see more photos of them on The Neko Files.

Probably the best known and most prolific mother cat there is Val. This friendly one-eyed tabby will be among the first cats to greet you when you visit the sanctuary, and her five youngsters, all grown up now, won’t be too far away. Foxy and Savannah are the two beautiful, long-haired silver cats you’ll see in the front courtyard – they’re both Val’s kids. Then there are tabbies Paulo and Latte and black Fury. Val and her offspring were part of a feral group that lived on the North Fraser Port Authority lands before the construction of the Canada Line on that property.

Long-haired white Mama Mia came to the cat sanctuary in 2007 with two youngsters. One of them, curiously named Dinky, looks almost exactly like her. White cats are somewhat prone to skin problems on their sensitive ears. Like Mother, like son – both Mama Mia and Dinky developed tumours on their ears and each of them has had to have part of one ear removed. They also resemble each other in personality; both are friendly, gentle cats who enjoy visits and petting.

Tortie Sophie gave birth to one litter of kittens shortly after arriving at the sanctuary in 2009. Her previous litter, still quite young, had been trapped and brought to us not long before, making for a rather large, blended family unit. All but two of the kittens were adopted. All-black Miko has become quite independent but tabby Hiro can usually be found close to his Mom – failure to launch?

Beautiful Grace and her four youngsters, Ash, Saffron, Gabriel and Yale, are relative new-comers. They’ve been with us less than two years, having been trapped near the dry-docks on Greybar Road. It didn’t take too long for Ash, Saffron and Yale to become out-going little characters. Now if only they could convince their still timid mom and that mama’s boy Gabriel that people are really quite nice….

There are a few more mom-and-kid groups at the cat sanctuary. Sunday, May 13 is Mothers’ Day and it’s also a visiting day there (between 1 and 4 p.m.). After you’ve treated your own Mom to breakfast in bed and some flowers, bring her along to meet our feline moms.