With a lot of help, we have just rescued a young Mum cat and her four kittens after they were dumped in nearby Haslingden.

A cyclist found a lone kitten on Commerce Street, near to the busy A56 bypass, and rang the Sanctuary. Cat rescuer Rosie Allan raced down and collected four kittens but couldn’t capture the Mum cat. They appealed for help and a lady trapped the Mum who has now been reunited with her babies.

Sanctuary Manager Karen Weed said: “The black kittens were found dumped in a wooden area in a bag, which was hidden, near a main road and one of them had wandered out. We think that they had been there a few days in the bag and the Mum is needing extra treatment after being in the sealed bag which we think she managed to open and escape from.

A cyclist rang the Sanctuary after finding the kitten and thankfully someone was able to collect the kittens but the mum got away. After a day or two, a lovely lady managed to trap Mum, who is only around 18 months old, and brought her to the Sanctuary to reunite them, although Mum is very weak and on a drip.

Whoever dumped them was so cruel, especially if the bag was sealed, and it was close to a road and if they had been there much longer, they could have all been run over. They are thankfully all safe with us now.”

Mum still has a fight ahead of her and is still receiving treatment at the Vets, so we are hoping she will recover very soon.  It’s early days with the kittens, but they have 24/7 care.

Massive thank you to all the rescuers and this family wouldn’t have survived at all if it wasn’t for them.

UPDATE 14 MAY 2023: We are heartbroken to tell you that Mum, who we named Penelope, has passed away. On arrival she was taken to the vets where it was discovered that part of her small intestine had dropped down into another part. She needed emergency surgery which she had and got through OK. Sadly the surgery is high risk and several hours after her bowl ruptured and she started with sepsis. At this point her body was too weak and there was nothing further the vets could do. This condition is more likely in young cats that have had severe worms and litters of kittens. Sadly this was the case for beautiful Penelope. We are devastated that we couldn’t save her after all she has been through. On a happier note all her kittens are doing really well. Our thanks go to the Vets for trying so hard to save her and Rosie Allan for all her hard work locating Penelope.