Kitten found stuffed in library book drop

A striped kitten is fighting for its life at the Montgomery County SPCA after someone left it in the book drop at the La Mott Community Center in Cheltenham Township, officials said today.

The male brown tabby, which has no name, was shoved into the book drop at the center, which also doubles as a library, sometime overnight Thursday after the center closed at 9 p.m.

It was discovered by a maintenance man at 7:30 a.m. Friday when he reported for work and heard mewing coming from the drop box.

"He investigated, and lo and behold, it was a kitty," said Kelly Rebitz, a center staffer.

The worker summoned police and community center officials who could unlock the drop box, she said. The kitten was freed at 9:30 a.m. and taken to the SPCA for emergency medical care.

Montgomery County SPCA director Carmen Ronio said the cat is six- to seven-weeks old and suffering from dehydration, eye infection and diarrhea. He said it is being treated with fluids and antibiotics.

Ronio put the kitten's chances of survival at 70 percent. He said it was eating, but not drinking enough yet.

"We're hoping for a happy ending, but I can't promise anything," Ronio said. He said the kitten likely was separated from its mother before it could develop the normal immunities from nursing.

Rebitz said the drop box is constructed so that a person would have to put an object into it deliberately; the kitten's presence was no accident.

"That's very disheartening and disgusting that someone would do that," Rebitz said.

Ronio said the cat's plight would have been less severe had someone simply turned it to the SPCA as soon as it appeared sick. The 12 hours spent inside the stifling drop box when temperatures were in the 90s only worsened its condition.

The shelter in Conshohocken is available 24 hours a day to deal with such situations, Ronio said.

SPCA officials have made no animal-cruelty arrests in connection with the incident, but they are seeking the perpetrator.

"We'll probably never know unless someone witnessed it," Ronio said. Anyone with information can call the SPCA at 610-825-0111.