A litter of kittens had a lucky escape when they were discovered hiding in a disused caravan that was destined for disposal.

Staff at Buchanan Skip Hire in Livingston gave the caravan a check over before it was due to be taken away from their site when they discovered a mum cat with three kittens hiding inside.

They called in the West Lothian Branch of Cats Protection, who sent in volunteers to trap them and get them to safety.

“The company kindly held up the work they planned to do with the caravan and left it completely alone until we were able to get there later in the day,” said Branch Coordinator David Cochrane. “We successfully managed to get mum and kittens out and into foster care.”

“A few days later we got another call from Buchanan’s to say they had found another kitten in the yard. When we arrived there was a lot of coo-ing going on over a wee tortoiseshell kitten!”

The first three kittens have been named Maggie, Molly and Mitch, while number four is still awaiting a new name.

They are around four weeks old, while mum Trudie is only about 18-months old herself. While she was initially very protective of her litter and growled at the volunteers trying to help her, within 48-hours she was happy to approach them for attention and food, and allowed the kittens to get some human affection.

They have received a clean bill of health by a vet and have already all been reserved for adoption after they garnered so much interest on the branch’s Facebook page.

It is not the first time the West Lothian Branch has been called out to the skip site, having previously spent two days enticing out a mum and her litter from underneath a portakabin.

Again, while initially wary of her saviours in no time at all she was the most loving and affectionate cat who was successfully rehomed, as were her youngsters.

The pandemic has hit the charity hard as we have not been able to carry out any of our usual fundraising activities but have continued our work helping needy cats.

David said: “As with many other charities, we have more money going out than coming in at the moment, so although these wee ones have a home to go to, if anyone would like to make a small donation to help with our ongoing work, we would be very grateful for that at this difficult time.”

For information on how you can support our West Lothian Branch visit https://www.cats.org.uk/west-lothian and for more ways to help support Cats Protection visit www.cats.org.uk/support-us