A Frantic Search for Kittens in Thamesmead

After a particularly hectic day yesterday, CatCuddles volunteers were hoping that today would be uneventful, but it was not to be. There is no such thing as an uneventful day when working (or volunteering!) in animal rescue.

This afternoon our collaborating vet discovered that the stray cat collected from Thamesmead yesterday, now named Tawny, was producing milk. This means that she has recently nursed kittens, causing immediate alarm among the team that her kittens were now without their mother, alone and unprotected.

Not knowing whether the kittens were newborn or older, there was no way of deducing how desperate their situation was. And so worried volunteers rushed back to Thamesmead to begin a thorough search, aided by the individual who initially sought our help with Tawny.

From talking to helpful locals who had been observing the situation for weeks, it was quickly discovered that Tawny had just a single Ginger kitten, old enough to not be in any immediate danger without his mother. There was one big problem however - the kitten was living in an unused building site, protected by tall fences topped with barbed wire, a padlocked-gate and CCTV.

Help came quickly and efficiently however in the form of two employees from Peabody, the housing association overseeing the building site. Within half an hour of being contacted they were on the scene to remove the lock and allow volunteers access to the site, expressing personal concern for the welfare of the kitten.

A weather-proof, baited trap was set for the kitten with volunteers scheduled to check it periodically, once again with our helpers' assistance. We're hopeful that the kitten will enter the trap in the next 48 hours and can be whisked to safety, putting both our volunteers' minds at rest and our friends at Peabody, to whom we are hugely grateful.