On an ordinary walk through Wooten Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, two friends spotted something unusual in the parking lot — a clear plastic box with the lid snapped shut.
At first, it just looked like discarded storage, but then they noticed movement inside.
When they hurried over and lifted the lid, their hearts dropped. Inside was an entire cat family: a mother, her older teenage daughter, and four tiny 5-week-old kittens.
The older cats — later named Cedar and Mahogany — were frightened, their eyes wide with worry. But the kittens, still too young to understand what was happening, blinked up innocently at their rescuers.
The friends couldn’t believe someone had abandoned them this way. Still, they were thankful the box had been left in such a visible spot, where the little family had a chance of being discovered. They immediately contacted the SPCA of Wake County for help.
“There’s no way to know for sure how long they had been out there,” said Samantha Ranlet, SPCA’s communications manager. “Since there were no air holes but the cats were still okay, they were probably not in there longer than overnight.”
At the shelter, staff rushed to check each cat. To everyone’s relief, aside from hunger and thirst, they were in good health. The emotional scars, though, would take a little more time.
“Cedar and Mahogany were pretty nervous at first,” Ranlet explained. “They had been in such a vulnerable position, their brains were probably in survival mode.”
The family was placed into foster care with an SPCA staff member. There, Cedar quickly relaxed, grateful to be safe while nursing her kittens. Mahogany, however, struggled to trust her new humans.
“She would flinch whenever someone tried to pet her and run away,” Ranlet said. “But over the course of a couple weeks, she learned she could trust her foster mom. Now she has ‘the LOUDEST purr box.’”
Soon, the kittens will be old enough to strike out on their own. Cedar and Mahogany will be adopted together as a bonded pair, while the little ones will each find homes of their own.
“Today they are all friendly, playful and happy — you would never know by looking at them what they’ve been through,” Ranlet said.
Thanks to the kindness of strangers who stopped to look inside that box, this family has a bright future ahead.
The SPCA of Wake County is currently matching all donations through November. To help this family — and others like them — you can make a donation here.
