DEHYDRATED and starving kittens crammed in a box were dumped on the doorstep of a rescue centre’s shop.

Volunteers at Headington’s Four Paws Cat Rescue shop, in The Roundway, made the discovery in a box they thought contained a donation.

The 10 kittens and two adult cats are now being nursed back to full health at the rescue centre in Wheatley after being abandoned at the store last Tuesday.

Volunteer Janet Grant, 65, said: “Someone came in and put the box down, we just thought it was clothes but when we had a look there were all these kittens and cats crammed in a box.

“The two ladies that work in the shop were quite distraught about it.

“The animals were in a poor state, they were dehydrated and starving – they obviously had not been well cared for.

“They had been put in a box on a hot day, if they had not been found they would have died.”

Rescue centre founder Julie Jones added: “At least they were left somewhere that would look after them instead of dumping them in fields.”

It is thought the box contained two litters of kittens, with five about 12 weeks old and five about seven weeks old.

Mrs Grant said they had found more than 30 abandoned cats and kittens so far this year.

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.