A KIND-HEARTED family have been praised after coming to the rescue of six abandoned kittens in Orford.

The litter had been left in a zipped up suitcase with a callous note stating: "The only way is to dump them sorry it's you".

Fortunately, they were found on Friday morning by mum-of-two Kaysie Sheridan on her way to taking her son Andrew to Cupcakes Pre-School on Orange Grove and have since by cared for by Kaysie's mum Sue.

The grandma, from Locking Stumps, added: "I have had cats all my life so my daughter called me and asked if I could help.

"It wasn't very nice inside the case and there was a cloth with blood on it which we think the mother had probably given birth on.

"We don't think they had been there long when they were found but they were only three to four-weeks-old so we took them to my vet in Culcheth to be checked over."

The family had been worried about the health of one of the kittens but say the rest appear to be happy and healthy and there are already lots of mums from the nursery keen to give them a home.

Sue added: "It was lucky the case had been spotted as it was pushed around a corner away from the main entrance and there was just a piece of it sticking out.

"Whoever did this obviously wasn't in a position to look after them but it's not nice what's happened.

"I just look at them and my heart melts."

A note with the kittens added: "Help us call RSPCA sorry or Cats Protection they won't help me."

But a spokesman from the Warrington branch of Cats protection said the kittens had not been placed on their waiting list and urged owners to neuter their cats.

He added: “We operate a very busy rehoming centre and always have between 70 to 80 cats and kittens in our care.

"We have a waiting list for cats and kittens to come into the shelter because we operate at full capacity all the time.

"This means that we never have empty pens just waiting for new cats to arrive and enables us to help the greatest number of cats and kittens possible – as soon as a new home is found for a cat we already have another cat booked in to fill that pen.

"The details of the kittens who were dumped have not been placed on our waiting list – we are unable to help if owners are not able to provide us with the details of the cats that need to be rehomed but we do our best to help everyone who adds their cats to our waiting list.

"Unfortunately most rehoming centres are full to capacity due to the large numbers of unwanted animals and we strongly urge people to consider whether they are capable of taking on full responsibility for any animals that they take into their care."