Late one night, a volunteer at Room 8 Memorial Cat Foundation in Riverside, California, finished her shift caring for sick cats and was finally heading home.
Exhausted, Cat Ouellette climbed into her car around 4 or 5 a.m. and prepared to drive off — but then she paused.
“I got this weird feeling,” Ouellette told The Dodo. “I thought maybe I was just being paranoid, but something told me to check.”
She stepped out of her car and scanned the area. That’s when she spotted a sealed cardboard box sitting on the ground near her passenger door. On top was a note.
The message explained that someone had found a litter of kittens but couldn’t keep them because they had dogs at home.
Sadly, abandoned boxes like this appear outside the rescue far too often. Still, Ouellette was stunned to come across one in the middle of the night.
“People try to do their best, but we try to do our best, too,” she said. “I’d rather see it here than left by a trash can.”
Heartbreakingly, one kitten hadn’t survived. But inside the box, seven tiny babies were still alive. Without wasting a second, Ouellette rushed them inside.
“I brought them in, fed them immediately, made them some formula and did a little physical exam,” she said.
Hungry and restless, the kittens lapped up their bottles eagerly. For the first time in who knows how long, they were safe.
Now, two weeks later, the kittens are thriving. Volunteers at Room 8 have been rotating shifts to make sure the little ones get round-the-clock care, and their unique personalities are starting to shine.
Their story is a reminder of just how important spaying, neutering, and TNR (trap-neuter-return) programs are in preventing situations like this.
“This could have been avoided if the mom cat had been fixed,” Ouellette said. “That’s where it starts.”
In about three months, once they’re vaccinated and old enough, the kittens will be ready for adoption. Until then, Ouellette and the other volunteers are cherishing every moment of kitten chaos.
“All I want them to know is that they are loved,” Ouellette said. “That’s my job — to give them the best start possible.”
If you’d like to support Room 8 Memorial Cat Foundation, you can make a donation here.
