Man Becomes Dad to Litter of Kittens After Taking in Stray Pregnant Cat

When this man successfully coaxed a stray cat indoors to safety, he had no idea she would bring even more company.

Chris Thomas, 40, spent months feeding Frances, the feral feline, who visited his backyard. But one day, she turned up with a wounded ear following a suspected cat fight so he decided to take her in. Unbeknownst to him, she was pregnant and the following morning, he woke to find four kittens in his home.

Thomas, who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told Newsweek: "The original plan was to keep Frances and one of her babies and adopt the rest out in pairs. But then everyone was so bonded and momma was so attached to her babies.

"I couldn't bring myself to separate them. It was a scary decision but I knew in my heart it was the right one. I have never once regretted that decision."

On November 18, Thomas, who uses the handle @francesandfam, went viral on TikTok and racked up 1.4 million views after sharing their story.

The slide show of images show Frances peering under the fence followed by a photo of her nursing the kittens and a photo of all the cats sitting on the couch.

Frances, now 3, has changed Thomas's life. Not only has she built up a large following on social media that has allowed them to generate an income but she also pulled him out of a "dark place."

"She saved me just as much as I saved her. She took my life in a completely different direction and now I love to leverage our story to help other cat families and educate and raise awareness," he told Newsweek.

Thomas and the cats currently work together and host a cat product review show on Amazon.

Prior to rescuing Frances off the streets, Thomas already had an orange cat named Oliver. After the birth of the kittens, he added two sister cats to the clan called Rogue and Storm.

He said: "I often joke that I feel like a Disney princess. It's definitely never a dull moment to say the least! When they were all kittens it was pure mayhem but I feel like we have it down to a science now.

"We have the most awesome high tech cat house with four Litter Robots, auto feeders, water fountains, and more cat furniture than human furniture. We're still working on perfecting the art of nail trimming though. I feel like I got incredibly lucky because they don't really meow much, they don't claw up furniture, and I don't get waken up to zoomies too often. They're all best friends and momma is so in love with her babies. If giving them a good life is my only purpose, then I'm good with that."

So far, the video has amassed over 212,000 likes and more than 1,600 comments.

One user said: "I love that you gave them the opportunity to be a happy family TOGETHER."

"That's like my dream story come true," said another person.

Update 11/23/23 4:08 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a new headline and correction.

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