One of 13 kittens abandoned outside an Amherst, N.S., business, has a stretch Thursday at the Tantramar Veterinary Hospital. (Courtesy of Christopher Mackay, Tantramar Interactive Inc.)

Thirteen kittens and their mothers have been rescued after they were found abandoned outside a business in Amherst, N.S.

Barry Blake and his wife, Wendy, said they found three storage bins as they arrived to work at Moneys Worth Liquidators on Wednesday.

"We found three tubs of kittens on the doorstep here, along with a big bag of cat food," Barry Blake said Thursday.

Each plastic tub had a hole on the side for air and contained a female cat and a litter of kittens.

The local animal shelter had no rooms for the cats, and neither did the SPCA in Moncton, N.B.

Unsure what to do, the Blakes eventually took the cats to the Tantramar Veterinary Hospital in Sackville, N.B., about 16 kilometres northwest of Amherst.

Dr. Gina Bradet, the veterinarian at the clinic, runs a small cat adoption program. She said she usually has only one litter at a time in the program.

"I did not have the heart to choose which litter to keep and which litter to send for not a very good sentence," Bradet said. "So I kept them all."

Animals in good health

One black cat had five kittens, about seven days old. A second black cat had a litter of four kittens, about 14 days old. A grey cat had the oldest kittens — a litter of four about four weeks old.

Bradet said the cats and kittens were socialized and generally in good health.

This kind of abandonment is not unusual, she said.

"Unfortunately, it's very common," she said. "The SPCAs and the animal shelters have to deal with that all the time."

The Tantramar Veterinary Hospital will absorb most of the costs of taking care of the cats until they reach adoption age. Potential owners must promise to have the animals spayed or neutered.

"If you spay the mother and all the kittens, you stop the vicious circle of having a litter of kittens every three months," Bradet said.

Blake said he is relieved the cats will have a future but upset they were abandoned in the first place.

"It's a pretty rotten thing to do," he said. "You're cruel to the animals, plus you're also dumping your problem on somebody else."

Bradet said anyone wishing to adopt the animals should email her clinic through its website.