Newborn kittens were left alone when mother died. A hero saved them just in time
A bundle of newborn kittens were rescued from a dire situation in the nick of time by two heroes, an Ohio shelter said.
In a graphic situation, a kind-hearted bystander stopped after seeing a deceased cat on a road, who looked like she was hit by a vehicle. Only that wasn’t the end of the story. The Good Samaritan then saw something else.
“To make things sooooo much worse, sitting right next to the road was a box of teeny, screaming newborns! By that time, they were screaming at the top of their (little) lungs for their momma. They needed her and they didn’t understand that momma was never coming back,” the Jefferson County Humane Society in Wintersville said in an April 17 Facebook post.
The shelter reported that the mother may have been attempting to relocate the kittens to a safer spot when she was killed.
“Why in the world would anyone put these innocent lives in the direct path of danger?!? This little family was placed in a box, driven out away from houses, and then dumped by the road. They didn’t even have the decency to move that box ... away from the road,” the shelter said.
Thankfully, the kittens were discovered and rescued right in time before something worse fell on them. But with one obstacle down, another problem presented itself: newborn kittens rarely survive on their own without their mother’s milk and warmth. The shelter stepped in and attempted to feed them around the clock.
“They didn’t want to drink milk from a bottle and fought against it, but we continued working with them. We found a foster who had just finished fostering kittens and their momma, Iris,” the shelter said.
Iris knew exactly what to do.
“Within minutes of walking in the door with the screaming babies- Iris literally came RUNNING to help them feel safe. Within the first half hour, Iris set up a nest and carried each one to cuddle them,” the shelter said. “Of course, the foster stayed right beside them just to make sure everything was fine. Before long, Iris had them all nursing from her!”
The shelter wasn’t sure Iris had enough milk left from weaning her kittens a week before. But she stepped in and proved them wrong.
“She cleans them and feeds them and keeps them warm and most importantly, she loves them. Their screaming days are long gone because now they have Iris. She is an amazing kitty who truly loves mothering- even if they aren’t her biological babies- she takes them in as her very own babies,” the shelter said.
For more information on the kittens and what to do when witnessing someone abandoning pets on the side of a road, visit the shelter’s website.
Wintersville is about a 140-mile drive northeast from Columbus.
This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM