Clever cat led RSPCA rescuer to her kittens

A clever cat who was thrown from a car stunned an RSPCA inspector by leading him to her litter of four tiny kittens hidden in a barn. RSPCA inspector Jon Knight had been called out to rescue the young cat, after she was spotted being thrown from a car in the town of March, Cambridgeshire, last month. The concerned caller had been monitoring the cat and started feeding her, and after two weeks managed to confine the cat in a green house in Upwell Road, March and the RSPCA was called. The cat was taken to an RSPCA vet for treatment; she was quite thin and had a grazed face as a result from being thrown from the car, she was also treated for fleas and worms and given a good feed. However, the cat had to be returned to the location as it was clear that she had only recently had kittens and she would need to get back to them as soon as possible.



When Jolie, as she has since been named, was returned she began calling out. At first inspector Knight believed she was calling out to her kittens so he watched and waited to see what happened. But it soon became clear that she was meowing at him. Then, amazingly, as soon as the inspector began to follow her, she moved forward meowing all the time and led the inspector across country straight to where her kittens were. Inspector Knight said: “I had taken her back to the location she had been picked up at so that she could get back to her kittens. But it was such a rural area, I had little hope of finding them myself. When she started to get really vocal at first I thought she was calling to the kittens, but then it became clear that she was actually calling to me!

“I began to follow her and she took me through the rear garden, across a ploughed field and into a farm yard. All the time she was calling me and waiting for me to follow. She then took me into an old farm machinery barn and led me to behind a stack of old wood and there were her four kittens. There is absolutely no way I would have found these kittens without this cat’s help. She was a huge distance away from the garden she had first been found in, and was clearly doing all she could to lead me to her kittens. The kittens were tiny and still had their eyes closed. I collected them and took them and mum back to the RSPCA Block Fen Animal Centre, where they will stay until they are all fit, healthy and old enough to be rehomed.



“In my 15 years as an inspector I have never had this happen before and I was quite shocked by it all. But this little cat knew exactly what she wanted to do, and she made sure that I followed her and brought her kittens to safety. I am just so pleased this had a happy ending for all involved. And I would like to thank the people who had been keeping a careful watch on Jolie and feeding her. Jolie had been through an awful lot, but she showed real maternal instinct and determination, she really is a remarkable cat.” Laura Prince, cattery supervisor at Block Fen animal centre, said: “The kittens, two boys and two girls, are very healthy and fat! So they have been well looked after by Jolie. She is quite thin so we are doing what we can to get some weight on her, although she probably won't get back to normal until the kittens have been weaned. She is a lovely friendly cat and only very young herself. You can tell how pleased she is to have a nice warm home and lots of food on tap.”