Roof Damage Provides Surprise Home for Kittens

THREE TINY KITTENS were discovered in a roof space after an opportunistic cat took advantage of roof damage to find a safe place for her offspring’s nursery.

Ann Mason, 61, a pharmacy technician from Liskeard, spotted a visibly pregnant tortoiseshell cat roaming around the neighbourhood and thought nothing of it until her husband said he thought he could hear yowling coming from the roof. When a neighbour arrived at their door with her cat saying they were searching for missing kittens, Ann put two and two together.

Ann says: “My husband, Tyler, initially thought he must be hearing things as we have two dogs and were certain they’d have reacted to a cat in the house. But when a lady knocked on the door and said she had followed her cat to our house, we realised we needed to do some exploration.”

Cat’s Protection

The couple’s bungalow roof had been damaged during Storm Eunice with the roof’s rear fascia boards behind the eaves damaged in one section. As Ann and the cat’s owner walked around the property listening for kittens, they spotted the hole in the roof and wondered if it could be the entrance to where the mother cat had hidden her kittens. On the advice of a vet, Tyler called Cats Protection’s Cornwall in Carnon Downs.

Ann adds: “Once we realised the kittens might be in the attic we had no idea what to do. I had quite a sleepless night before we contacted Cats Protection and was really worried to think that there might be such young creatures stuck up there.”

Newborn Kittens

Cats Protection worker, Jason Reading arrived from the charity and began investigating the part-boarded attic but found no sign of kittens. There was grass around the hole in the roof where he thought the cat could have been coming and going, and he suspected the kittens must be close by. Trusting his instinct that the mother cat would help him locate her newborn kittens, he asked the cat’s owner to lift her up to the hole in the roof.

Watching inside the attic, Jason describes what happened: “I watched her skulk in, nose around and then tiptoe over some insulation. As she went further into the attic one of her week-old kits gave out a tiny mew. She led me straight to the nest she’d built and very carefully I reached in and out came two girls and a boy. They were so young their umbilical cords were still attached and all jet black apart from occasional white markings.”

Nick of Time

Jason rescued the kittens in the nick of time as, at a week old, kittens cannot survive for long without their mother. The kittens’ eyes were not yet open and they were solely reliant on her for food, warmth and cleaning.

Jason adds: “We were really grateful to Ann for her perseverance and for letting us look around in the loft. Thanks to her, the kittens are safely back with their mother in their owner’s home.”

Wary that her roof space might be taken over again, Ann concludes: “The cat had travelled around half a mile from home to get to us, so she clearly liked the space. We’ve blocked it up now just in case she decides to have another look!”​