Five kittens and six puppies were born on the same day at the same rescue centre after their mums gave birth within hours of each other.
Staff at RSPCA Doncaster, Rotherham and District Branch have been extremely busy trying to take care of their residents as well as two litters of newborn babies.
A spokeswoman from the branch said: “Our cat mum, who we’ve called Catalie Portman, came into our care as a pregnant stray and shih tzu Abbey was brought in by an inspector after concerns were raised about her welfare. When she went for her vet check we discovered she was heavily pregnant.
“It’s not unusual for us to have pregnant dogs and cats coming into our care but to have two with us at the same time - and then have them both give birth on the same day definitely is!”
Abbey went into labour in the morning and all of the puppies were born by around 2.30pm on Thursday 12 March. Then Catalie went into labour at around 4.30pm and all of her kittens had arrived by around 8pm.
“Abbey’s puppies - two boys and four girls - are almost two weeks old now and are doing really well,” the spokeswoman added. “Catalie is a great mum and her five kittens are also doing really well and getting bigger and stronger by the hour!
“We now have both mums and their litters in foster homes where they can get the one-to-one care they need at this time. We’re incredibly busy at the centre at the moment so we’re very grateful to our amazing fosterers who are taking good care of our little miracle families.
“Now is a really challenging and frightening time so we hope these little babies will remind the public of all of the amazing things that are still going on out there in the world. And to lift everyone’s spirits we’d love to invite the public to help us name our new additions.”
The RSPCA is running a competition to name the puppies and kittens on social media so head over to their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages to submit your suggestions.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RSPCA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/RSPCA_official
Instagram: www.instagram.com/official_rspca