Last year, experienced cat foster mom Erin Moore welcomed the smallest kitten she had ever seen into her home. The 8-week-old baby was so undersized that she looked more like a 3-week-old — barely bigger than Moore’s palm.
“She literally fit in the palm of your hand,” Moore said in a video for The Dodo. “She was half the size of a water bottle.”
Moore named the micro kitten Mouse, a fitting tribute to her tiny frame. She was the extreme runt of her litter, and many people doubted she would make it past 6 months. But Moore was determined to give her every chance to grow.
“Despite Mouse’s tiny [stature], she came fully loaded with the sass and the attitude of a teenager,” Moore said.
Around the same time, Moore took in another special-needs foster: a kitten named Coraline, whose ruptured eyes had to be surgically removed. Though the surgery was frightening, Coraline’s curious, courageous personality still shone through.
“It was as though she knew she had a life to live that was going to be better and bigger than the life she had with eyes,” Moore said.
As Mouse worked on gaining strength and Coraline learned to navigate the world without sight, the two kittens formed an extraordinary bond. Mouse instinctively began guiding Coraline, helping her explore safely and confidently.
“Mouse will, time and time again, show her things without her having to see things,” Moore said. “She has guided her to an open window so that Coraline can smell outside.”
With Mouse’s gentle guidance, Coraline soon began running, climbing stairs and hopping onto high surfaces with ease. And as Coraline grew bolder, Mouse gained the confidence she needed to thrive, too — her tiny body finally catching up with her huge personality.
Their friendship touched Moore so deeply that she decided she couldn’t let them go. She adopted both kittens, keeping the pair together forever.
More than a year later, Mouse and Coraline are thriving — playful, loving, and utterly inseparable. They groom each other, wrestle, cuddle and continue to support one another in quiet, meaningful ways.
“It’s so unique to watch the relationship that they have,” Moore said. “Even though they are not from the same litter, they do not have the same history of deficits, they understand each other.”
