It amazes me no matter how small a feral kitten if their eyes are open they certainly know how to spit!

They are just adorable! Thank goodness that guy (sorry no pun intended) found them in time! Its awful to think what may have happened if he hadn't.

I wonder what happend to mum? She probably put them there because she thought it was a nice, dry safe place.

Lovely story thanks so much for sharing, Ruth; I love a happy ending.

A happy ending for the kittens if not the mother cat.
It could have been a different story but I suppose no one would ever have known if they had been burned alive.

Wow, that was indeed an extremely close call! I can't imagine what would have happened if those little kittens hadn't been spotted, what a horrible way to die. I'm glad you and Babz saved them!

It's sad to hear that no one found the kittens' mum. 🙁

The two black and white kittens look like your boys. 🙂

Oh dear the little ginger one does not look happy lol

It doesn't bear thinking about they might have been burned alive!
Poor mother cat though.

I enjoyed your story Ruth.
A bit of light relief for you from writing about saving claws.

Poor litle kittens,I'm so happy they got good homes.
The mother wouldn't have left them if she could help it would she?
It's sad she was never found.I feel so sorry for ferals especially mothers,it must be a struggle to bring a family up outdoors.
Thank you for telling us the story Ruth and well done to you and Barbara for caring.

Thanks for that lovely story Ruth.
I'm so glad the kittens were OK.
Sad about the mother though.
I love your articles,your declawing ones are very educational and I'd love to read more rescue ones too.
I'm a huge fan of yours for all you do.

I'm glad the bunnies were saved Ruth.
Thinking of bonfires most people tend to think about hedgehogs sleeping in them, you don't expect to find kittens and rabbits, do you !

My aunt and uncle live in an outlying suburb where you can have a fire pit out behind your house and they occasionally use theirs. The wood and kindling had been piled in there, ready to go, for some weeks before they got around to finally having a fire one night. Uncle Ray lit the fire and it wasn't long before they heard shrieking coming from the center of the fire pit. There were a bunch of baby bunnies in there! Uncle Ray got pretty badly burned saving them, but he got them all out. They were all o.k. except one which had a badly burned ear. That bunny they took to the vet who treated the burns and told them they'd have to keep him inside in a cage until he healed. Their cat was terrified of the baby bunny, which was quite funny to see. Finally the little rabbit, which had never been afraid of them, started to react more like a wild animal, with fear of humans. The ear was healed so then they knew it was time to let him go. For years my aunt would watch out her window for a rabbit with a scarred ear but she never saw him again.

I'd forgotten all about these little mites, I hope they're all still alive and enjoying their lives, it was sad about their mum. We had some good times rescuing, as well as some sad times, plenty of smiles but some tears too.

Sadly I think something must have happened to the mother cat, she must have left her babies where she thought they were safe and gone looking for food but couldn't get back for some reason.
We kept in touch with the man who had the builders yard and he didn't see her around any more.
I wish he'd seen her going in to her kittens before the day he was lighting the bonfire as we could have saved her too.

I liked this story. The kittens look pretty healthy as you say. The mother did a good job of raising them. It is sad that she couldn't be found. Perhaps she came back and her kittens were rescued by then.

Bonfires make good dens for cats who have kittens to look after, or who are pregnant.

There are probably cases of cats being killed in bonfires for that reason.

Thanks for the story, Ruth.