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A mother cat and her kittens were discovered inside an empty Liverpool house just minutes before it was due to be demolished.

Builders giving the Wavertree property a final check before it was turned to rubble found the feline family hidden away in one of the bedrooms.

They called volunteers at Merseyside-based Rescue Me Animal Sanctuary, who are now looking after the black and white cat, named Agnes, and her two kittens.

It is thought the kittens were just five-days-old when they were discovered at the empty house.

Heather Prescot, a volunteer looking after the cats, said: “They were doing a final check of the house and found them. The builders stopped everything and called us. The cat and kittens are in quite good condition.

“The mother cat is very friendly. I think the builders were a bit shocked when they found her.”

One of the kittens is black and has been named Anna whilst the other is black and white and has been named Ada.

Rescue Me volunteers have also been looking after another family of abandoned kittens recently.

Sadly most of the litter-of-five, found in an alleyway in Huyton, were poorly and only one survived.

Those looking after this litter’s remaining kitten, named Xaviar, decided to place her with Agnes so he would have a mother-figure to feed him and care for him.

Heather said: “When his sister passed away we realised it was worth taking the chance with our new mother cat to give him the best possible chance.

“She is a fairly young mum but she is a total natural. She has not only kept her own babies safe for a week on a building site but then accepted Xavier as her own.

“He is the same age as his new sisters but he is half the size but we think that he will soon catch up.”

Agnes and the kittens will stay with volunteers until they are strong enough to be re-homed, which will probably be when they are around seven-weeks-old.

As the ECHO reported earlier this month, the Rescue Me team are on a mission to buy a building so they can help more abandoned pets.

The charity has launched an appeal to raise £80,000 to move to bigger premises. Donate here.