A vet has spoken of his anger after a sealed box containing four kittens and their mother was left in the boiling sun for several hours.

Norwich Evening News: A mother cat and her four kittens that were dumped in a sealed cardboard box in the blazing sunshine outside Willow Veterinary Clinic in Hellesdon. Picture: SUPPLIEDA mother cat and her four kittens that were dumped in a sealed cardboard box in the blazing sunshine outside Willow Veterinary Clinic in Hellesdon. Picture: SUPPLIED (Image: SUPPLIED)

Tim Roe, principal vet at Willow Vets in Drayton High Road, Hellesdon, said the cardboard box left outside their business yesterday was sealed with tape so the cats could not get out, and had no air holes in it.

The cats have since been cared for by the vets and nurses and are now well but Mr Roe said they could have died in the hot sun.

He said: 'In 30 years I have never seen cats sweating so much. In another 20 minutes they would have been dead.

'It was only luck that we discovered them, when I went out through the fire escape. They were left outside the door and might not have been spotted. Why would anyone dump cats like that?

'I would have rather had a phone call saying that a box had been left outside, than for it just to be dumped there without them telling us.'

He said the mother was about two-years-old and the kittens about 12-weeks-old.

He added: 'They were dehydrated. We have been syringing water into them and they have been soaked in ice cold water to get their core temperatures down. They are luckily in pretty good shape. Prior to being left in the box they had obviously been looked after for some time.'

The cardboard box had a Tesco label on it and previously contained a hand blender set.

Mr Roe said the cats would be kept at the practice until they could find a home for them, or a charity to take them on.

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