A CAT and her two-week-old kittens have had a lucky escape after making their home in an electricity sub-station in Southampton.
Garry Black and Terry Amor, who work for Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), found the felines while working near Albion Towers.
The mother and her four kittens were living under a protective cover in a cabinet housing electrical equipment.
Garry said: "We think the mother must have squeezed into the cabinet through a small ventilation gap before she had the kittens. It would have been difficult for her to go in and out carrying each one after they were born.
"After making sure they were safe and in no danger of coming into contact with electrical equipment we called Cats Protection."
The animals were taken to the charity's Southampton branch, where they were found to be in good health.
The mother appeared not to have been microchipped because the tiny implant had moved, but it showed up on another scan weeks later.
Welfare team leader Steve Ridd said: "Once we had the details we were able to contact the owners and discovered their cat Bella had disappeared in May.
"They were delighted to have her back but had recently got another kitten, believing Bella had gone forever, and asked us to rehome her kittens.
"Now ten weeks old, they've had their first vaccinations and have been found new homes.
"Bella’s owners are booking her in to be neutered to avoid any surprise litters in the future. Her story highlights the need for full body scanning for microchips, the importance of keeping microchip details up to date, and how vital it is to have your cats neutered."
A Cats Protection spokesperson added: "Kittens at that age are extremely vulnerable. They are wholly reliant on their mother for keeping them alive and continuously fed.
"Bella would have needed to scavenge for food, something she was not used to doing.
"And leaving them while she did so would have been very risky. There was no guarantee she would find food or that a predator would not find the kittens while she was gone.
"Had they not been found they would have been at significantly higher risk of not surviving."
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