“We couldn’t believe it.”
By Ashley Ortiz
Published on July 2, 2026 at 5:48 PM
A somber hush fell across Charlene Jackson’s house on the morning of April 26, as her family quietly showered their 12-year-old dog, Caddie, with love. It was Caddie’s final day with them, and they were all filled with grief over having to say goodbye to her the following morning.
The family was gathered around their beloved dog when Charlene’s husband suddenly entered the room, urging them to follow him into the office. He’d spotted a large, dark figure on the skylight and realized an adorable fluffy family had come to visit.
“He was working in his home office when he heard noise above him,” Charlene told The Dodo. “He looked up, and there they were! We couldn’t believe it.”
The Jacksons ran into the office and were shocked to find a mama cat curled up on the skylight with a handful of kittens, especially with the weather they’d recently had.
“It had been raining for a few days before, and it was chilly,” Charlene said. “The sun was finally out, so they must have been on the skylight to get warm.”
Charlene’s daughter, Georgie, didn’t skip a beat. She insisted on saving the cats, and her parents quickly followed suit. They initially carried a kennel, food and water onto the roof and planned to let the cats rest for a little while. But after watching one of the kittens stumble into a drainage opening, they rescued him and quickly decided to bring the feral family down to safer ground.
Thankfully, the little fluffy family didn’t put up much of a fight when being relocated.
“Mama was very friendly and allowed us to pick her up and pet her,” Charlene said. “The kittens were very frightened, but we managed to get them all, so we thought, and bring them down.”
The Jacksons made a small enclosure for the cats on their patio, where Mama cat could come and go as she pleased, while her kittens rested safely. But shortly after moving the little family into the enclosure, Georgie realized one tiny kitten had been left behind.
“We had Mama and 4 kittens but realized after watching the videos there were 5 kittens,” Charlene said. “We couldn’t find the 5th one anywhere. We thought it was lost for good.”
Sadly, the Jacksons didn’t find the missing kitten that night, but they promised to keep searching. The following morning, they said a heart-wrenching goodbye to their ailing dog, Caddie, then sought comfort in cuddles with their remaining senior pup, Lulu, and the little cat family.
“It felt like the kittens and mama were sent to us to help us heal,” Charlene said.
You can watch more of their rescue here:
Thankfully, less than 24 hours later, they found the missing kitten alive after surviving two days on her own in a roof gutter.
The Jacksons breathed a sigh of relief as they reunited her with the rest of the little family, convinced the cats’ stressful rescue journey was finally over. But the next morning, the mama cat came racing toward Charlene and Lulu outside in a panic, proving it wasn’t over just yet.
At first, Charlene thought the mama cat was hungry, so she set out a fresh bowl of food. But the mama cat ignored the food and kept scratching the Jacksons’ patio door.
“I thought it was strange, so I went out to see what she wanted,” Charlene said. “ I looked into the pen and found only 2 kitties. 3 had escaped.”
Charlene’s heart dropped. Panicked, she and her husband searched everywhere for the escaped kittens but couldn’t find them anywhere. And it seemed that the mama cat was just as desperate for their help.
“Every time we stopped or came inside to take a break, Mama scratched at the door,” Charlene said. “She was insisting we find them. She even led us up a pathway several times. It was very deliberate.”
The Jacksons followed the mama cat up the pathway, continuing to search for hours, but kept coming up empty-handed. They decided to follow Mama one last time, and she suddenly leaped from the path onto a covered pile of wood and stared at them.
“We were quiet and heard rustling,” Charlene said. “All 3 kitties were together and had fallen down to the bottom of the wood pile and were stuck. They were about 4 feet down.”
Charlene and her family took apart the wood pile until each kitten was out safely. They returned the kittens to their pen on the patio and secured the enclosure to avoid any more escape attempts.
The kittens spent the next few weeks growing and playing inside their patio pen alongside their doting mama. At eight weeks old, the kittens received their vaccinations and were officially ready for adoption. Two quickly found amazing homes.
At first, the Jacksons decided not to keep any of the cats, as they already had two senior dogs with deteriorating health conditions. But after losing Caddie the day after the cats’ rescue, and then their beloved Lulu a little over a month later, they realized they couldn’t part ways with the remaining cats. So, they adopted Mama and the last three kittens, whom they named Spicy, Stevie and Nicksy.
Now that Mama and her babies are officially part of the family, the Jacksons’ days couldn’t be brighter. Still healing from the heartbreak of losing their soul dogs, the Jacksons turn to the little cat family for comfort every day — and they can’t imagine life without them now.
“This family of kitties and mama have really helped us heal,” Charlene said.