Staff and students at Brookline High School in Brookline, Mass., are raising four newborn kittens after a mother cat snuck into the building last week and put the litter underneath an office desk.
A special education staff member found the mother cat in her office May 8th and shooed it out. The cat had gotten into the office through a window that was left open over the weekend.
Later, three males and one female kitten were found bundled together in a ball, purring under the corner of a desk.
Cafeteria Manager Teresa Vidette and Assistant Cafeteria Manager Paulette Paula brought the kittens some warm towels and helped take them to Metro Cat Hospital in Brookline, where they were examined.
After the hospital said it would euthanize the kittens because they were abandoned, the school formed a group to help take care of them.
Vidette convinced Assistant Headmaster Michael Frantz to have the school take on the kittens as a science project. Students have been teaching the kittens how to go to the bathroom and help to feed and burp them.
Metro Cat Hospital has been donating formula, bottles, supplies and medical care. School staffers take turns taking the kittens home at night and on weekends.
When the kittens become about 8 weeks old, they will be ready for adoption. Some students and staffers have already shown interest in becoming owners.
The mother cat has not returned and hasn't been seen around school property since the kittens were found.
Posted: May 19, 2006, 5:00 a.m. EST