Just days after the kittens’ birth, their feral mother was mistakenly disturbed by a cat-loving member of the public who ventured into the yard where the little family was sheltering.
Despite keeping her distance, the cat-lover observed as the mother and one of her five-strong brood escaped the scene.
The lady contacted Cats Protection’s Cornwall Adoption Centre right after, and Centre Manager Libby Jepson encouraged her to keep an eye on the situation from afar.
The mother came for one more kitten, but she had not returned for the remaining three kittens by early evening, and Libby knew they would not survive if left alone.
Nye the kitten enjoying some nutritious kitten milk
“Feral cats are scared of humans,” Libby continues, “so we want to have as little contact with them as possible.” The kittens had been left for nearly two hours in this scenario after the mother had been scared away.
“At roughly three days old, kittens cannot maintain their own body temperature and require constant feeding, even if she has returned.” I was concerned that even if their mother returned, her kittens would be too cold and hungry to live, or that another animal might prey on them once it became dark, so we decided to bring them in while maintaining social distance.”
AJ and his siblings are cared for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Due to the present lockdown, the center only has a skeleton staff, so Libby has taken on the job of hand-raising the one female and two male kittens.
“All three kittens are currently doing extremely well and require feeding every two and a half hours, day and night,” she explains. They’ll stay with me for the next few weeks, and then I’ll be able to split the tasks with other members of staff once there’s a little more time between feeds.
Once rehoming resumes, Elizabeth will be ready to find a new home.
“Because the kittens are so vulnerable, we named them after some of the most inspiring persons we could think of grey-and-white kitties.” The NHS was founded by Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, and Nye is a tabby-and-white cat. AJ is called after AJ Cronin, whose novel The Citadel helped to establish the NHS, and tabby Elizabeth is named after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a physician and surgeon in the United Kingdom.
“We hope that their names not only offer them with the strength they need to grow but also serve as a tiny bow of gratitude to those who founded the healthcare system for which we are all so grateful right now.”
