Literally yawning with relief after giving birth to two kittens on a building site is Hi Vis, a cat who was rescued by animal welfare officers at The Mayhew.

Hi Vis, a domestic cat, and her new born kittens Boots and Hard Hat are recovering well. Sadly two kittens from another litter Hi Vis had starved to death after builders who had been feeding them left the site at Brent Town Hall.

Animal Welfare Officers visited the town hall, which is being refurbished, several times to try to locate the first litter but they kept moving around which made it hard to find them.  They looked under the floorboards and put a camera underneath but could not find the two six month old kittens. When the builders left, the kittens somehow got separated from Hi Vis and had no-one to feed them.

Paul Grimes, Animal Welfare Officer, said: “It’s great we managed to save Hi Vis and one of her litters.

“This was a really tricky case, we had been tracking the first litter for a while, but they kept moving around as feral cats do.

“When she first gave birth the labourers told us and we went out a few times but because of the noise and disruption they never stayed in one place for long.

“The builders had to move on and sadly the first two kittens died but we knew she had had another litter which we were determined to find.”

They persisted in their search and finally found the mum, who was not microchipped, and two kittens who are now three weeks old.

Find out more about our team of Animal Welfare Officers and the work that they do in London. The Mayhew offers a low-cost Microchipping service at our clinic. Thousands of cats and dogs are lost each year in the UK and many are never reunited with their owners as they have no permanent identification. Microchipping is the safest way to ensure they can always get back to you when lost. Please call 020 8962 8017 or email [email protected] to make an appointment.

Read more about the work our Animal Welfare Officers do:

Mummy cat & kittens dumped

A puppy fearing for his life – Rupert’s story

A brave dog – Ruth’s story

Cat found giving birth at side of road