Carmen Weinberg, the creator of Animal Friends Project, became engaged after seeing that one of the kittens had an umbilical cord wrapped around its paw.

They responded to me about noon the next day. Carmen recalls hastily picking up the hurt kitten and rushing it to the clinic.

It turned out that two more kittens from the litter had serious health problems. Carmen took all three for emergency care, while the rest of the babies were left with a feral cat mother who nursed them.

Despite Carmen’s best efforts, the kitten with the injured paw stopped fighting. His siblings, Apple and Blueberry, received treatment and are on the mend.

The two were indissoluble from the start. Both have velvety, black fur that has been “silvered” with “gray hair” since birth.

According to Carmen, “Such an unstable, changeable hue suggests that their mother had a fever or overworked throughout pregnancy.”

With a couple of weeks of round-the-clock care, the siblings noticeably rounded up and got stronger enough to start experiencing strength in their legs and even learn how to take care of themselves.

Apple licked her paws for a long time, and not a single speck of dust had time to linger on her fur coat. She also kept her brother Blueberry clean, even if it meant taking him away from his wild games. “They stayed awake longer and played more.”