“You would never know by looking at them what they’d been through.”
In early November, two friends were walking through Wooten Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, when they noticed a clear plastic box sitting in the parking lot. The lid was on, but they could tell there was something inside — then realized it was moving. They hurried over and opened the box and were shocked to find a whole little family nestled inside.
A mom cat, her teenage daughter, and four tiny kittens stared up at the friends from inside the box. The two older cats, later named Cedar and Mahogany, were pretty nervous, but the sweet kittens were none the wiser to what was going on, as they were only about 5 weeks old.
The friends couldn’t believe the family had been abandoned, but were at least grateful that they’d been left out in the open where someone could find them. Wanting to get them the care they needed as soon as possible, they contacted SPCA of Wake County for help.
“There’s no way to know for sure how long they had been out there, but since the bin was (fortunately) left in a conspicuous spot and these Good Samaritans were the first to find them — and since there were not air holes but the cats were still okay — they were probably not in there longer than overnight,” Samantha Ranlet, communications manager at SPCA of Wake County, told The Dodo.
Once the entire family was safe in the shelter’s care, the first priority was making sure they were all healthy. While they were definitely hungry and thirsty, physically they all seemed to be in good condition. Emotionally, they had some healing to do.
“[Cedar and Mahogany] were pretty nervous at first after being rescued,” Ranlet said. “They were in such a vulnerable position, their brains were probably in survival mode.”
Once they’d received all the medical care they needed, all six cats were put into foster care with one of the shelter’s staff members, who can’t say enough about how wonderful they are. Cedar settled right in, happily nursing her babies and enjoying the safety of her foster home. Mahogany was perfectly comfortable around her family but had a little trouble warming up to her new humans. Eventually, though, she got there.
“Mahogany, the eldest daughter, had the hardest time adjusting,” Ranlet said. “She would flinch whenever someone tried to pet her and run away. But over the course of a couple weeks, she learned she could trust her foster mom. Her foster says Mahogany now has ‘the LOUDEST purr box.’”
Over the next couple of weeks, the kittens will finally be old enough to be on their own, and the whole family will be up for adoption. After having been through so much together, Cedar and Mahogany will be up for adoption together as a bonded pair. All six of these kittens deserve the best forever homes, and their new friends can’t wait to help them find them.
“Today they are all friendly, playful and happy — you would never know by looking at them what they’d been through,” Ranlet said.
