ENGLAND – These fifteen adorable kittens were found crammed inside a suitcase that was dumped by the side of an east London road.
The animals, who are believed to be under five weeks old, were discovered by a vet as she was walking to work in Dagenham on Saturday.
These poor wee ones had been packed inside the case, which had numerous small air holes allowing them to breathe.
They are also believed to be from up to four separate litters, the unfortunate cats are being cared for at the Hornchurch & District branch of charity Cats Protection where staff are currently hand-weaning them.
Alison Gambles, who is the welfare and homing officer for the branch, stated: “Although they were all alive and in fairly good condition, they were clearly far too young to be away from their mothers.
“Six of them had obvious cases of eye infection and although the others seem okay for now, we will need to closely monitor them.
“Someone must have felt in a very desperate situation to do this.
“They seem to have intended the kittens to be found as the suitcase had been left near the home of the veterinary nurse, who is well known locally. But with kittens this young and vulnerable, the outcome could have been awful.”
Kind folks have already come forward to take the kittens, however, the charity will still need to care for them until they are ready to be re-homed.
The head vet at Vets4Pets in Dagenham, Debra Teo, where the kittens were initially taken, stated, “Happily, none of the kittens are seriously ill and they are now safe and being well cared for.
“However, every single kitten would have benefited from a few more weeks of care, attention and nutrition provided by its own mother.
“Our concerns now are about these mother cats who are most likely pregnant again by now. We are pleading with all cat owners to have both male and female cats and kittens neutered.
“The current situation could so easily have been averted and also could have easily ended up being a tragedy.”
