Surprising Number of Babies Found Beneath Concrete Steps
On a sunny March day, experienced cat-trapper Paul Nadler, vice president of Bowie Citizens for Local Animal Welfare (Bowie CLAW), embarked on a mission to catch some stray cats in a suburban Maryland neighborhood. The homeowner reported seeing several pregnant cats in the area in need of assistance, prompting Nadler’s visit.
Nadler successfully trapped two pregnant cats quickly. However, upon hearing cries from the concrete steps leading to the door of the light blue house, the situation took an unexpected turn. Armed with a flashlight, Nadler got down on the ground and looked into a shallow opening beneath the concrete.
A tiny kitten stared back at him, teetering among the leaves, with more meows echoing from the entrance.
“It was really difficult [to] access, because it was so narrow,” Nadler recounted. Using a headlamp and his phone, he assessed the situation, determining just how many kittens were present.
“They were too young to race out,” he noted. “If they were a week older, they could have scattered, but they were still quite young.”
Carefully, Nadler extracted each kitten from their concrete haven, totaling an astonishing seven kittens.
Initially estimating the kittens to be about 2 weeks old, Nadler later learned they were closer to 3 or 4 weeks, as vets treated goop around their eyes, which had been keeping them closed. Unfortunately, the mother cat managed to escape during the rescue effort. Nadler, undeterred, spends several more days at the site, but she remained elusive.
“She won’t go in a trap,” he lamented. “She is just pretty sharp. I have to come up with some other plan.”
Meanwhile, the seven rescued kittens are thriving under the care of foster Amy Collins, an experienced bottle-feeding caregiver. “I cleaned them up when I first received them,” Collins shared. She also medicated their eyes to stave off infection, while placing them in an incubator to stabilize their body temperature.
Now 6 weeks old, they are eating soft food and engaging in playful exploration.
This operation is just the tip of the iceberg for Bowie CLAW and similar organizations as kitten season kicks off across the nation. Just days after this rescue, Nadler found another five kittens in the same neighborhood and two more elsewhere.
“Now they’re coming at us like crazy,” Nadler remarked of the new litters appearing.
The futures of the seven kittens who began life beneath concrete steps look promising. As their personalities start to shine, Collins ensures their continued nourishment and warmth, while Nadler perseveres in his quest to locate their cautious mother.
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