Tiny kitten saved from crushing machine at Bedlington recycling centre

Jason Henderson was working at the Remondis Recycling Centre in Bedlington when he thought he heard a cry, discovering the two-week-old kitten huddled in the bottom of a box.

Placing his hi-vis coat in the box for warmth, Jason rushed the kitten to his aunt Nicola’s home, knowing that as a cat lover she would know what to do.

Nicola Henderson said: “I opened the door to Jason and he said ‘you’ll never guess what’s in this box’; it was a complete surprise to see this tiny kitten in there.

"I could see he was very young, his eyes weren’t yet open, and I instinctively held him close to my chest to keep him warm and he snuggled into my collar bone.

“I had been recently talking to the local Cats Protection branch about getting a new cat as a companion for my Darcy, so I had their number to hand. A volunteer arrived within 20 minutes.

“We have no idea how he ended up at the recycling centre, whether he was placed there by his mum or was dumped, but it doesn’t bare thinking about what could have happened if Jason hadn’t heard him.”

Sascha Dean, co-ordinator of the East Northumberland Branch of Cats Protection, was able to get the kitten to the vet before bringing him into care and embarking on hand-rearing Womble, as he’s now called, including round-the-clock feeding and helping him go to the toilet.

Sascha said: “The first few weeks were a very worrying time for all the volunteers here, and we didn’t know if Womble would make it.

"Fortunately, he got stronger and from that day in December when he was a shivering bundle of fur he has now grown into a 15-week-old healthy but mischievous boy.

“As he had no mother cat or siblings to teach him when to stop he has a boisterous nature, although he has calmed down considerably. Consequently, he will need to be adopted by an experienced owner, where there are no children or other pets.”

East Northumberland Cats Protection has had to deal with a number of cases recently, which has invigorated their resolve to educate more people on the importance of getting cats neutered.

Volunteers have seen first-hand the distress and suffering of pregnant cats who come into care, and kittens who have been abandoned or dumped.

Sascha said: “Kittens that are too young to be away from their mothers can go downhill quickly.

"It can really upsetting, particularly for the volunteer fosterers, as these problems are largely preventable; if people got their cats neutered it would not be so common.”

Sascha is currently hand-rearing a kitten whose mother, Aphrodite, was abandoned when she was heavily pregnant.

Within days of coming into care she went into labour but had to be rushed in for an emergency caesarean. One kitten was stillborn, another survived only 48 hours after weighing just 35g at birth.

Nugget was the only one who made it but soon his mother stopped producing milk so Sasha had to step in and bottle feed him.

“All of this could have been avoided if Aphy had been neutered,” said Sascha.