Another day brings another story..
Recently we had a report from a member of the public about a cat and kittens being spotted in a garden in MK. We investigated the area and found that the kittens were dying, we brought them into our care immediately and managed to luckily save their lives. We had found two female cats in the area, a tortie and a tabby, both suspected to have had kittens - making it difficult to determine exactly who mum was.
Our volunteers canvassed the area and carried out door knocking, it turned out a lot of people had spotted the tortie having had kittens repeatedly...but no one had reported her
We found out that the tabby was 11 months old and was in fact a kitten from a litter of hers nearly a year previously. Our tabby was also identified as the mum of the kittens we had brought into care.
During this period, we found another two cats who we determined to also be related to the original two. A ginger male 7 months and a black and white female 4-5 months. They were again from litters of the tortie over the previous year. Heartbreakingly, we found out lots of her kittens had died over the past year, with each litter producing an even lower survival rate. We had successfully brought all of these cats and kittens into care and we believed this story to be over.
Until we received a call... more kittens had been found in the same area. Two had unfortunately passed away, two were still alive. After further investigation, it turned out these were the kittens of our original tortie these were also brought safely into our care.
That's 6 generations all aged under the age of 2 years old... all of them feral, having spent their lives on the streets with no human interaction. The saddest part is they had been spotted several times by people in the area, but no one had reported them until recently. It is so important when these situations arise to get in touch with local charities as soon as you can. It isn't normal to see kittens wandering the streets.
If you are ever in doubt, please get in touch with us for advice, we are here to help - 01908 611179 / branch@mkrspca.org.uk
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