5-day-old kittens and mom found near college campus. Then, ‘caring’ student stepped in
A mama cat and her 5-day-old kittens were spotted near a college campus — then, a “caring” student stepped in.
The student noticed the mom had an infection and coaxed the feline family into a crate. She then brought them to Catman2 Shelter, where the mom received medical care, the North Carolina animal organization said.
“It meant a lot to me to have someone be so enthusiastic about helping the cats,” Kaleb Lynch, shelter director, told McClatchy News in a March 27 email. “When she finally caught mom and showed up at the shelter with her, she was almost in tears from being so happy to have made a difference in their lives.”
The touching moment came after the “caring” student, named Kendall, had helped several animals at a cat colony near Western Carolina University. Over time, she reportedly picked up stray cats from an off-campus apartment complex and brought them to the shelter to be spayed or neutered and vaccinated.
The last cat in the colony was pregnant, and Kendall “set up a shelter for her.” The mama went to that area to give birth to her five babies before she showed signs of a “post-partum infection,” the shelter said.
“We were so impressed by this student’s efforts to help this little family and all the rest of the complex kitties that we decided to name the mom after her,” Catman2 wrote March 26 in a Facebook post.
After the cat family made it to safety, animal workers noticed the mom had a pellet lodged in her neck. Workers removed the pellet, and the shelter said similar discoveries are common.
“Sometimes even tiny pellets like birdshot can cause irreparable damage to a cat, or an opossum, or other creature just trying to make it another day out there on their own,” the shelter wrote.
Now, Catman2 reports that Kendall the cat and her litter are healthy. The kittens, which don’t have names yet, are all male.
The little ones will go up for adoption in about eight weeks. Their mom will keep nursing them for six to seven weeks before she can be spayed and get a new home, the shelter said.
The shelter is in Cullowhee, a roughly 50-mile drive southwest from the popular mountain town of Asheville.
This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 1:50 PM with the headline "5-day-old kittens and mom found near college campus. Then, ‘caring’ student stepped in."
