Cat with kittens found abandoned in Worthing

A stray cat and her litter were found in a zipped up laundry bag, in an alleyway off New Road, Durrington, last Friday (January 26).

Amina El‑Alami, a registered veterinary nurse at Arun Veterinary Group’s Goring-By-Sea branch, said they were found ‘in the nick of time’.

"They were in a laundry bag which was all the way zipped up and had some towels in it,” Amina said. “The cat and her three kittens were in there.

"Luckily, someone found these guys and they are all okay. If it was any longer or overnight, it could have been a different story because it was cold out there.

"We don't know how long they were in the bag but we don't think it was too long. They couldn't have survived for too long in there.

“They are all thankfully doing okay at the moment but it was a bad start [to life] for the kittens.”

Amina said the mother cat was a ‘bit dehydrated’ and had signs of an infection so was put on a drip for 48 hours.

"She's had treatment and is now on the mend,” the veterinary nurse said.

“She didn't have much milk because she was dehydrated so the kittens were weaned off.

"They are being hand reared by one of our nurses. They are all eating, gaining weight and doing well. They will be rehomed once they are of age.

“They just need a bit more TLC.”

Amina said this kind of situation is thankfully rare but ‘it has happened a few times’.

She added: “We’ve had cases where cats have been dumped outside charity shops. It’s not very common but there have been stories of people dumping animals or taking them to charities.

"If you do find them, definitely give us a call and bring them straight down so we can make sure they are all healthy.

"We scan the microchip in case they have been stolen and dumped. This mum wasn't micro-chipped.

"For people who don't want kittens, we always recommend to go through charities. We would never judge people for wanting to do the right thing by their cat.

"We always say contact local charities or the RSPCA rather than just dumping them.”

Amina said staff at Arun Veterinary Group’s branches have been kept ‘busy as always’ over the winter.

“We've had lots of cat neutering,” she said. “There will hopefully be less kittens because everywhere is overrun with them.”