In Praise of Nursing Cats

So this post idea started because Orion and I are working on an alphabet book and have been finding pictures of various nursing animals to include in it. I have never had a cat or a dog that had puppies, so I never really thought about how long various animals might nurse if left to their own choice. I always pictured them being done when they were still small as I guess that is what human intervention does in their hurry to send the babies off to new homes. :( So I was quite surprised when this was one of the first pictures I stumbled on:
My goodness, that nursling looks almost full grown! Turns out the internet is full of pictures of big kitties nursing! How does this mama do it?!
But the caption on it was the best part!
"This was taken several years ago when Mini Harina forgot to use birth control, got pregnant, and had about a billion black kittens. They all found good homes and were weaned and eating food by this point but she was such a good mother that she always let them nurse no matter how big they were and how much it inconvenienced her. Now that's a good mother cat." Hmmm, that's a good mother period in my book. :)

Would ya look at all these beautiful colors!

This brood is not quite as big, but that mama belly looks pretty crowded!
Nursing while grooming as only a cat could.
And this one had to be included for the sheer abandon!
There were lots more, but you get the idea. :)