Bellevue arrived at WAIF alone. Within hours, she found an unlikely family.

When baby Bellevue arrived at Best Friends Veterinary Center on April 21, she was completely alone.

At just two or three weeks old, the little stray tuxedo kitten could fit in the palm of your hand. She had just opened her eyes. At this age, kittens need round-the-clock feeding that can be difficult for shelters to provide. Luckily, when Best Friends reached out to WAIF to see if we could care for her, we knew just where to put her.

Just two weeks prior on April 6, 1-year-old Queen Anne arrived at WAIF with her five kittens. Her litter—all named, like their mama, for Seattle neighborhoods—was just a few days old when they came into WAIF’s care, making them around the same age as the new tuxedo kitten.

Knowing the new arrival would need lots of love (and milk!) to get big and strong, we decided to see whether Queen Anne would be willing to accept one more baby into her litter.

We weren’t sure how this mama would react to the newcomer. Queen Anne was brought to WAIF as a stray. She was semi-feral and fiercely protective of her five babies. But when we placed the tuxedo kitten in their midst, Queen Anne started grooming the little one right away and allowed her to nurse.

The new kitten was aptly named Bellevue—technically a separate municipality from Seattle, but closely associated with the neighboring metropolis. Though Bellevue arrived at WAIF alone, she now has a doting mother and five siblings: Fremont, Sodo, Phinney, Ballard, and Beacon.

Bellevue and her new siblings will become available for adoption in a few weeks, once they’re old enough to be spayed and neutered. For now, the Seattle kittens and their mama are in a foster home, where they are starting to become quite playful and active. Their foster reports that Bellevue is extremely snuggly and affectionate.