One beautiful sunny day, a lady was quietly going about her housework when a stranger approached the house with a cardboard box.

“Hey there” she said.

“Hi” said the man. “Your cat had kittens on our kitchen floor. Here they are.” He said, as he handed over the cardboard box.

The lady peeked inside the box and saw three tiny kittens – umbilical cords still attached. Blind, barely moving, they were clearly just hours old.

“My cats are all spayed and neutered, these are not my kittens” she said, handing back the box. “You must return them immediately to the place you found them so the mama can come back and care for them”.

The man left with the cardboard box and the lady thought nothing more of it.

She was a responsible pet owner – none of her male cats could father kittens and none of her female cats could become pregnant.

Four hours later, the doorbell at the lady’s house rang. She went outside, and there was the man again, with the box, and this time, the mama cat was inside with the kittens. The lady, exasperated, realised the only way these cats would live a healthy life was if she took them in, which she did.

The mama cat, a beautiful, shiny, petite little thing who was barely more than a kitten herself, she named Luna. The tiny kittens – a male tabby with a short tail, a female tabby with a long tail, and a tiny black male with a white diamond on his chest, she named Jack, Sam and Max respectively.

Mama Luna was not in good shape. She had a makeshift collar of fishing wire around her neck, and missing fur where it had rubbed. She was aggressive to humans – biting their legs and ankles. The lady discovered she had a nasty tummy bug, and after some medicine and frequent, nutritious meals, Luna became sweet, calm and chatty.

The lady set up a bedroom for “The Family” and the kittens grew up safely and happily with their mama. As soon as it was practical, Luna and her children were all spayed or neutered.