Animals don’t always choose ideal places to give birth, but the inside of a tractor tyre must have looked a safe bet for one stray cat. Sadly, within days of giving birth, this Mum lost contact with her newborn kittens.
The tyre the kittens huddled inside was among a pile of tyres stacked in a shipping container at Port Adelaide, all bound for a tyre recycling facility 33km away in Lonsdale.
At Tyrerecycle in Lonsdale, worker David was hard at it unloading tyres when he spotted something unusual. “I looked inside this tyre and saw a big ball of fluff – then I saw it move,” David said.
“I took my hat off and took them out one by one….then took them into the lunchroom to cool down.”
The five surviving kittens would require around-the-clock care
The temperature that day was 26C, and the previous day the mercury topped nearly 40C. It’s not hard to imagine how stiflingly hot it was inside that tyre, making the survival of these babies all the more incredible. Added to this is the fact that all the kitten’s bar one are black – the one grey tabby is what caught David’s eye.
The ordeal was too much for one of the kittens, who sadly died soon after being found, but five of the six survived.
David called his wife, who coincidentally was with her friend and RSPCA SA volunteer Bianca. “I picked them up and took them to the RSPCA shelter just down the road. After a quick check and feed …they were very hungry… I took them home to foster.
“They still had umbilical cords attached and were just two or three days old at most,” Bianca said.
The litter recently enjoyed their first day of school
RSPCA SA runs special courses about fostering neo-natal kittens. Since completing the course in 2021, Bianca has fostered more than 30 neo-natal kittens. With support from her husband Nathan, she cares for them together with the couple’s dog, three cats and three rabbits.
cats and rabbits are all RSPCA “foster fails” – animals that Bianca and Nathan decided to adopt at the end of the foster period. These dedicated animal lovers also have a variety of birds and a jungle python in their menagerie.
The kittens are now six weeks old and thriving. For the past three weeks, they have spent each weekday inside an enclosure in Bianca’s classroom at Port Noarlunga Primary School.
Principal Marie Wright gave the green light to Bianca’s proposal of having the kittens at school during the day, enabling Bianca’s Years 2-3 students to learn about their needs and care.
The arrangement is also a win for the kittens, who have benefitted from the socialisation with the students.
“As newborns, these kittens were quite feral and fearful and hissed at everything,” Bianca recalls.
“Now they’re playful, very active and confident. When I first had them at school they were only three weeks old – the students were excited but also very respectful because they understood that the kittens needed their sleep.”
Bianca has utilised RSPCA’s resources for teachers
Bianca has used RSPCA’s AWARE program to design lessons that tie the kittens’ care in with the Australian curriculum.
“We’ve been doing weight charts, recording each kitten’s weight every day,” Bianca said.
“We’re also doing some persuasive writing about why it’s important for kittens to have toys, and the students have designed and made their own toys.”
According to Bianca, the benefits of having the kittens in the classroom each day extends beyond academic learning.
“Some children may be experiencing some stress or be upset for some reason, and a kitten will go up to them and help them calm down and relax. Just watching the kittens wrestle with each other and have fun is good for anyone’s emotional wellbeing.”
In a few weeks, this litter will be old enough to desex and adopt, but meantime it’s a win-win for the animals and students. Best of all, Bianca is keen to bring foster animals to school again if they suit the classroom environment.
