Kitten rescued from certain death after getting head stuck in mayonnaise jar in Ashington

Volunteers from the Northumbria branch of Cats Protection were visiting a garden in Ashington following reports of a litter of feral kittens in the area.

Within minutes of being at the site, the owner alerted them to a one of the kittens hidden behind a piece of wood with his head jammed in a glass jar.

Branch co-ordinator Sascha Dean said: “After rushing to see the kitten, I initially feared he was already dead because he was lying flat and felt cool to the touch.

"But after using a lot of cooking oil and slowly working his head out of the jar, the air lock he’d created broke. Once free, he began moving and we all felt such relief.

“By the time we got him to the vet he was in a fairly feisty mood. We were concerned that he had been injured while trying to break free but luckily there was no damage. It was estimated that he was no more than six weeks old.”

Given the apt name Mayo, he was brought into the care of the branch, while his siblings, who were found nearby, were admitted to another local rescue charity.

No mother was ever found, and it is believed either something must have happened to her, as it’s unlikely she would have abandoned a whole litter, or the kittens were cruelly dumped.

Sascha said: “This kitten certainly had a lucky escape. We only happened to visit the garden after a change of plan, and I doubt he would have survived much longer without an intervention.

“We’ll never know how Mayo came to get her head wedged in the jar but hopefully this story will make people think twice about discarding rubbish which could prove fatal to unsuspecting animals.

“The garden’s owner had been leaving out food for the kittens so we think Mayo got himself stuck in the jar elsewhere and managed to make it back to where help might be.”

Mayo has settled into life off the streets with a volunteer fosterer and has shown no signs of being wary of humans. Once old enough she will be neutered, microchipped and vaccinated.