Woman Finds Stray Cat in Hotel Room, Then Comes Unexpected Arrival - Newsweek

A woman and her mother were sitting on the balcony of their Mallorca hotel room at 2:30 a.m. when a stray cat decided to join them. They had no idea she was about to give birth.

Leia told Newsweek she was visiting Mallorca with her mother, Jodi, to see the solar eclipse. The two woke up in the middle of the night and decided to sit on the balcony. That's when they noticed a stray cat nearby. They recognized her as the pregnant cat they met earlier that day.

A series of "pspspsps" led the cat toward them, where they gave her milk and cuddles before she went on her way. But soon, the feline returned and walked into their room after they left their balcony doors open. She made her way to a blanket Leia had left under the desk that she didn't need.

"She looked restless as though she were in labor, but we honestly thought she didn’t look far enough along to give birth," she said. The two decided not to disturb her and went back to sleep.

But around 4:30 a.m., newborn kittens' cries woke them up.

Leia shared the surprise in an August 13 TikTok video on her account @leiabsands, showing the cat settling in the hotel room and later grooming her kittens on their first night in Mallorca.

Leia and Jodi were amazed that the feline had trusted them enough to choose their room as a safe place to have her kittens.

"We were really excited, though," Leia said. "I'm a cat lover myself and have two of my own at home in England."

When they realized what was happening, they stayed up to make sure the mother and her kittens were OK. She had two kittens by the time they woke up and gave birth to a third around 5:30 a.m. All three kittens were healthy, with no complications, which Leia found particularly remarkable given how young the mother appeared.

The feline family remained in the hotel room for several more days. Leia and Jodi did not want to immediately move them or stress the mother out too soon after giving birth. Instead, they let her rest, providing fresh food, water, clean bedding and plenty of attention. They also kept the balcony door open so the mother could leave with her kittens if she wanted. But she stayed.

"We really just wanted to give her time to recover and settle into motherhood," she said.

By the fourth day, the cat waited for them to wake up and looked at Jodi as if to ask her to watch her babies while she headed out for 10 minutes, then returned.

Leia said they continued their vacation as normal, although it now came with the added responsibility of checking on the cats, giving them cuddles and topping up their food and water.

With the birth happening on their first night there, Leia and Jodi decided to care for the cat and her kittens until the day before they left. They were also initially unsure how the hotel would react to the unexpected guests and worried the family might be put back out on the street.

However, the hotel helped them find a local rescue organization, Amigos de las Patitas, and even donated €100 ($114) to the organization.

Amigos de las Patitas has since named the mother Nala and found a foster home for her and her kittens.

Leia said she continues to keep in touch with the organization for updates on the family, which has been sharing the kittens' progress on social media. She hopes to see Nala and her babies again when she returns to Mallorca in October if they haven't been adopted by then.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Sam Wilson.