It’s fascinating how feral animals have an incredible instinct to protect their newborns. They often seek refuge in unusual and sometimes less secure places.
So, when people heard soft cries coming from a tube of insulation in an abandoned trailer, they knew they had to act fast and called rescuers for help.
The Critical Call for Help
The quick call for help turned out to be crucial. What the rescuers found inside the insulation tube left everyone completely shocked.
Uncovering the Hidden Cry
According to the volunteers, the abandoned trailer was in complete disarray, making it very hard to locate the source of the cries. Amidst the overwhelming mess, volunteers Angela DiPilla and Sharon Sponheimer carefully moved and checked everything until they heard a faint cry coming from a heap of discarded insulation tubes.
“They began moving the tubes and found the kittens deep inside one of them,” Pat Maloney, executive vice president of The Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society, told The Dodo. The four kittens, wet and cold, were in a dire situation, with one already having succumbed. It was crucial to bring them to safety and warmth as quickly as possible.
The Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society Steps In
The Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society (PALS), one of the largest cat rescues in the Philadelphia area, agreed to take in the feral mom and her four newborn babies.
A Challenging Rescue Operation
The cat mama was quite difficult to trap, but with the expertise of two highly-trained trappers, the whole family was safely transported to PALS. “It was late, and foster coordinator Sharon O’Toole Plichta swung into action immediately and got mama and babies settled into a nesting box in the shelter with lots of food and cover for the night,” the shelter wrote on their Instagram.
Mama was then vaccinated, treated for fleas, and dewormed, with hopes that the babies would continue to nurse and recover from their ordeal.
Taking Care of the Little Family
Finally, the little family was safe and warm in a soft nesting box, securely covered to provide a sense of complete safety in their new environment.
Caring for the feral mama proved challenging, as she was still terrified of humans. “When their eyes opened, they had mild eye infections, which is common in kittens coming from less-than-ideal circumstances. They were started on medications to treat them and are doing very well. Mama is terrified of humans, so she is encouraged to leave the nesting box when we need to handle them, but at this stage, we handle them as little as possible to keep her calm and feeling safe,” Pat Maloney told The Dodo.
A Safe Haven for the Family
The little family still had a long road ahead of them, but the important thing was that they were now safe at the shelter in Philadelphia, surrounded by caring individuals who looked after them.
If it hadn’t been for the people who called for help after hearing the cries, who knows if they would have survived at all.
