Little kitten lucky to be alive after being carelessly discarded by a main road.

A tiny kitten abandoned outside the gates of Cats Protection’s Tyneside Adoption Centre was lucky to be discovered before he could escape onto a busy road.

The black-and-white kitten was rescued by an eagle-eyed centre employee who spotted a suspicious package at the gate as she was carrying out her duties.

Twist the kitten was lucky to be rescued just in time

Initially thinking it must be a donation left by a generous supporter, Cat Care Assistant Natalie Marwood noticed the flap to the covered litter tray move.

Natalie said: “I felt sick as I ran to our gates, I just feared that the cat would escape. I was really panicking as the flap was not secure, it kept moving and by this point I could hear a lot of crying. I was so scared that the cat would get out and run into the road. This road is very busy and everyone drives far too fast along it.”

As she reached the padlocked gates she could see the kitten cowering inside. “I managed to shout to my colleagues to come and help and we got the kitten into a secure cat basket, which was such a relief. I felt really shook up,” she said.

“I know we don’t know the person’s personal reasons for abandoning this kitten but what really upset me the most and made me angry was that the kitten was not safe or secure. Even if they had taped up the plastic flap it would have meant the kitten was more protected. The little kitten is with us now and away from harm, he won’t want for anything.”

The covered litter tray the kitten was found in

Thought to be just five weeks old, Twist, named after Oliver Twist, has had an emergency vet appointment to check he is healthy as the team had no idea of his history.

He will be placed with a fosterer, who will be able to offer him the attention he should have still been receiving from his mother until he was at least eight weeks old. The fosterer will ensure he gets used to human attention so that he will be able to be adopted out to a loving family when he is old enough.

Centre Manager Emzi Frater said: “Although we appreciate that everyone is in a difficult situation at the moment and accidental kitten litters are going to pose a challenge this year in particular with delays to neutering appointments with vets because of the pressure of COVID-19, kittens should not be taken away from their mothers before eight weeks.

Twist the kitten being shown his new temporary home at Cats Protection

“If anyone needs our help we will do all we can to support them, however we do have a waiting list and many people are patiently waiting for our support once we have the capacity to take in more cats.

“The waiting list is vital to allow us to manage the needs of the cats and safety of our employees. It’s not fair or ethical to expect our charity, especially one where our team has been working tirelessly to care for cats throughout the lockdown with additional safety procedures, PPE requirements, social distancing and skeleton staff, to take on cats or kittens on demand when other members of the public are being supported over the phone and are patiently waiting for space. We are inundated with calls for help at the moment.”

If you would like to support the work of Tyneside Adoption Centre, you can find out how at www.cats.org.uk/tyneside You can also keep an eye on the website to find out when Twist the kitten becomes available for adoption.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, some vet practices will not be neutering cats or kittens. With kitten season on the horizon, this could result in an estimated 84,000 kittens being born. To avoid unwanted pregnancies, and putting extra stress on over-stretched vets, find out how you can help prevent a kitten crisis at www.cats.org.uk/neutering-your-cat