WHSmith staff at Magor services find cat in trap and kittens

Staff from WHSmith at the Roadchef, located at junction 23A of the M4, noticed the cat trying to wriggle out of the black ring of plastic stuck on her neck.

They called Cats Protection’s Gwent Branch for help and volunteers quickly arrived to try and coax the scared moggy to safety.

Glynis Davies, branch coordinator for the branch, said: “When we arrived at the services we could see the cat, who has now been named Twix, walking about with something around her neck.

“She was at the back of the main buildings and understandably extremely frightened. She would not let anybody near her so we loaned a humane trap to the team at WHSmith.

"They were so helpful and were able to catch Twix by lunchtime the following day. Once she was safely with us we were able to keep her calm and very gently wriggle her head out.”

When the immediate danger was over, the Cats Protection volunteers discovered Twix had no microchip – but she was producing milk and had only recently given birth - and it was a race against time to find her kittens.

The shop staff and charity volunteers found three kittens in the bushes behind WHSmith - two boys now named Aero and Wispa and one girl now named Fudge, all around four weeks old.

“They were all underweight as Twix was producing very little milk, most likely because she had been struggling to not only hunt for food but to eat and keep hydrated. We are so grateful to the team at WHSmith, without them it’s likely all four cats would have died,” Ms Davies said.

“As Twix needs to build her strength up, we are bottle-feeding the kittens round the clock and keeping them separate from her so they can all have the best care and to give the kittens the best chance of survival.”

Gary Lumsden, site director at Roadchef’s Magor site, said: "I am incredibly proud of the swift action taken by our WHSmith team. Their quick thinking and compassion saved a distressed cat and her kittens from a dangerous situation.”