Stylized line drawing of mark playing the flute

Moms are tough as fuck

I discovered that cartoon last mother’s day. It does an amazing job of describing the trials of being pregnant and giving birth.

But there’s more to being a mom than that. I know lots of women who didn’t give birth to their babies and they are no more or less a mom than anyone else.

This story isn’t about a human mom though.

This story is about a cat. A momma cat who was tough as fuck.

My Ecuadorian host family had a cat that had kittens while I was there. She gave birth to them inside of a couch in the back room. Her name was Mishi. They also had a dog, a St Bernard. The dog lived in the basement and the backyard and didn’t come in the house. I don’t remember the dog’s name. All I remember about him was that he hated children and short people.

There was a sun room on the back of the house with a door that opened into the yard. I was reading in the sun room when several kittens discovered the back door was open. They took a few experimental steps out into the grass before they started bounding around the yard.

Then I saw the dog come up the basement steps and spot the kittens. I could hear him growl through the glass as he lowered his head and started to charge. I have no doubt in my mind that he intended to kill those kittens.

What happened next almost seemed like it was in slow motion.

I heard a sound like a piece of paper being ripped. A giant piece of paper the size of house, being ripped in slow motion.

And I saw a blur fly through the back door. Mishi flew 6 feet across the yard and attached herself to the dog’s face, clawing and biting and making the most horrific noises I’ve ever heard an animal make.

The dog yelped and howled as she chased him across the yard and down into the basement where he stayed for the rest of the day.

She sauntered back up the steps and across the yard. One at a time, she took the kittens by the scruff and carried them back into the house. She spent the next few minutes bathing them in a corner of the living room before taking off out the window to go hunt.

The dog never came near any of the kittens again and ran and hid every time Mishi was in sight.