Fresh calls have been made for people to take responsibility for their pets after five young kittens and their mum were dumped outside a vets.

Staff at Companion Care inside Pets at Home at the Longwater Lane retail park arrived at work on Wednesday to discover a cardboard box containing the black and white kittens had been dumped outside the store.

Their mum had escaped from the box and had wandered off. She was later found and, together with the five kittens, has been taken in by one of the nurses at the veterinary surgery.

Now, people are being urged to get their pets neutered.

Angela Savory, a head nurse at the branch, said: 'I don't know why their owners couldn't keep them, they are not ill and seem to be well looked after.

'It reinforces the message that people need to get their animals neutered. It's the kindest thing for them from a medical point of view.

'We are overrun with unwanted animals. Cats can breed 18 to 25 kittens a year, that's an awful lot to add to the problem of the already struggling charities.'

The kittens were found at about 6am. It is believed they are four weeks old and their mum is one to two years old.

Mrs Savory, who lives in Thorpe St Andrew, said they only realised the kittens had a mum because a note was left in a child's writing which read 'the cat is called Minnie Mouse'.

All five kittens and their mum are said to be 'absolutely fine'. Mrs Savory will keep them for four weeks before they can be re-homed.

The 44-year-old said: 'We do a lot of fostering at Companion Care, 22 kittens were fostered last year and we will help charities as much as we can.

'These are the lucky ones. They were not in a secure box, they could've got into the wrong hands and mum could've run off. It all could've been saved if she had got neutered. If you are going to take on a kitten, you have got to be prepared to take on the responsibilty that comes with it - there's no NHS for animals.'

Anyone interested in homing the kittens and cat should call Companion Care Norwich Longwater on 01603 513 100.

Do you have an animal story for the Evening News? Call reporter Kate Scotter on 01603 772326 or email kate.scotter@archant.co.uk.