A friendly neighbourhood cat has saved the life of a baby boy abandoned by his parents in a freezing Russian city.

The long-haired feline, affectionately named Masha by the block’s residents, discovered the baby boy inside a cardboard box in apartment block in the Russian city of Obninsk after hearing his cries in the cold.

Masha apparently climbed inside the box and wrapped herself around the abandoned child, believed to be less than 12 weeks old, to keep him warm.

Hearing Masha’s loud meows, resident Irina Lavrova rushed to rescue the cat believing she was injured – instead she discovered her curled around the now quiet baby.

“You can imagine my shock when I saw her lying in a box next to a baby,” she told RT.

The baby was rushed to hospital, with Masha attempting to follow the car, and was found to be healthy, despite his outdoors stay.

“She was so worried about where we were taking the baby,” paramedic Vera Ivanina told REN TV.

A search has now been launched to try and locate the child’s parents. He was discovered with clean clothes, extra nappies and some baby food.