Kittens Dumped Outside Shelter In Box With Their ‘Mom’

Margie Morris arrived at Project Purr Animal Rescue, a cat rescue center in Mobile, Alabama, last Thursday to find two cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other outside the entrance.

The boxes had holes punched in them and were wrapped loosely with duct tape. Morris had a hunch there were cats inside, and she was partially correct. Morris and the shelter employees discovered a mother cat and two 5-week-old orange kittens when they opened the top box.

The other box, on the other hand, was empty. Morris believes that another cat was trapped within the box but managed to escape.

“As it turned out, another cat was sighted running around the parking lot of our tiny strip mall on Saturday morning, and myself and three team volunteers tried to catch her,” Morris, the director of Project Purr Animal Rescue, told The Dodo. “She was getting up in the car engines… and we weren’t able to capture her.” It was raining outside. We attempted to entice her with food but were unsuccessful. We’re hoping she’s still out there someplace – we’ve left food out for her, but we haven’t seen her.”

While the Project Purr team continues to search for the missing cat, they are doing everything they can to assist the mother cat, whom Morris has named Caroline, in feeding and caring for the kittens, Shilo and Neil.

“We made up a little bed and kennel for her to keep them secure,” Morris explained. “We’re providing her vitamin-enriched cat food.”

Morris placed the orange kittens in the mother’s care, and the family is doing well.

“As little as they are, the kittens will play, battling each other and bouncing around, and cuddling up next to the mom,” Morris explained. “She adores them and takes excellent care of them.”

Caroline was still feeding the orange kittens, but Morris noticed something unusual about her: she was pregnant. Morris first assumed that she’d get pregnant soon after giving birth to Shilo and Neil, and that she’d deliver her next litter in a few weeks.

The shelter personnel, on the other hand, were in for a major surprise. Caroline went into labor at 5 p.m. last night and gave birth to four healthy kittens. When Morris did the arithmetic, she realized Caroline couldn’t be the orange kittens’ mother as well – she’d simply been their surrogate mother. Morris was also curious whether the cat who fled from the second cardboard box was the real mother.

Caroline might have fled from the cardboard box as well, Morris continued, but she hadn’t – she’d stayed with Shilo and Neil.

“I’m just thankful she didn’t flee and abandon the infants,” Morris added. “I think the best thing about the cat is that she didn’t abandon those babies.”

Caroline’s family has increased, and she is caring for her four infants admirably.

“She’s the best mother ever,” Morris said.

Unfortunately, the story of Caroline and the orange kittens is all too familiar. Morris thinks that at least 15 cats have been thrown outside the shelter in the last five years. It occurred again just two nights ago.

“Someone left a box of eight tuxedo kittens, and it seems to be two separate litters — three in one litter and five in the other,” Morris explained. “Because we’re not there in the nights, it’s quite dangerous for the cats.” And if we hadn’t been there, the kittens would have passed away or being hit by a car.”

Fortunately, the tuxedo kittens, as well as Caroline and her brood, received assistance in time.

Link to Paws Daily

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