Ten kittens and three adult cats were found abandoned near a dumpster in Dartmouth, N.S., on Tuesday, covered in fleas and suffering from heat exhaustion.
The unnamed person who found the box of felines brought them to the local SPCA, just three kilometres from the dumpsters where they were found.
Chief provincial inspector with the SPCA Const. Jo-Anne Landsburg told CTV Atlantic that there is “no excuse” for abandoning the cats. The SPCA requires no explanation if someone says they can’t look after a pet. They can be dropped off at a local shelter, no questions asked.
“These kittens are helpless. They were locked in a box. They were suffering from heat exhaustion and they could have died easily,” said Landsburg. “It’s very frustrating for us.”
The group of 13 are recovering in a “makeshift nursery,” a dry baby blue kiddy pool fitted with blankets and toys. The three adult females are all nursing and looking after the kittens together, said Sandra Flemming, Nova Scotia animal care director for the SPCA.
“Ten kittens is a lot of kittens to feed, so with three moms they’re all getting the nutrients,” she said. “The best chance of survivability is to keep them with their moms.”
Though keeping this many kittens together with three different mothers is “unorthodox” for the group, Flemming says it’s the best solution at the moment since they don’t actually know which kittens belong with which mother. The plan is to keep the group at the shelter until they can be placed in foster homes. For now, the outlook is positive.
“They bounce back really fast,” said Flemming.
With a report from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown
