A mother cat and her four newborn kittens were rescued from the ceiling of a local restaurant this week.
The Animal Rescue League of Boston said they received a call after employees at a New Bedford restaurant called them to say they could hear kittens mewing from the ceiling. They didn't release the name of the restaurant because they did not receive permission from the establishment.
According to staff at the restaurant and a local community cat feeder, the mother cat had shown up a few weeks earlier but no one thought anything of it until they heard the kittens making noise.
Once they arrived, animal rescue league field services agents were able to spot the kittens through a space between walls and a hole in the ceiling. With one agent serving as a spotter, the other agent reached into the space and scooped up the four newborn kittens, who were then safely secured for transport. They then went to work trying to capture the mother cat by luring her with food and kitten sounds. But the mother cat continued to evade them, so they placed a humane trap in the ceiling space.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
The kittens were taken to the Animal Rescue League's Boston Animal Care and Adoption Center for veterinary care and treatment. Staff at the restaurant reported that the mother cat went into the trap around 11 p.m. that night, and field services agents returned the next day to pick her up, bringing the cat to Boston to be reunited with her kittens.
The cat family has since been placed in foster care to allow the mother cat a quiet environment to care for her kittens. The 3-week-old kittens will need some time before they can be weaned from their mother and adopted out. The mother cat will be spayed and will also be made available for adoption.
"Community cats are incredibly resilient, and have a knack to find shelter for themselves and their offspring," the animal rescue league said in a statement. "However, kittens born this time of year are incredibly vulnerable to the elements and other potential dangers and ARL urges the public that if a cat with offspring are discovered, to contact ARL Field Services for assistance." ARL Field Services can be reached by calling 617-426-9170, Ext. 563.
