WHEN a helpless kitten was abandoned by his mother, he was in danger of losing all nine of his lives at once.

But despite being left at just two days old, the cute ball of fluff has defied all odds and stayed alive.

The ginger kitten, called Little Jimmy, was found shivering and starving in Salfords Industrial Estate, off Salbrook Road, three weeks ago.

Minutes from death, he was rescued by a veterinary nurse volunteering for East Surrey Cats Protection, who has taken him into her care.

Anja Silvani, who works at the Village Animal Hospital, Caterham, said: "We got a phone call about three weeks ago from a lady reporting a mother cat had a litter of kittens behind a dustbin.

"But when all the builders came to work she panicked and ran off with only one kitten in her mouth, leaving the rest of her litter.

"When I got there, there were only two kittens left. One was already dead and still covered in blood from the birth, but Little Jimmy was screeching and obviously still alive."

The odds of a kitten surviving after being abandoned at such a young age are remarkably low, but Anja was determined to try and keep Little Jimmy alive.

She said: "He was freezing cold and starving so I had to warm him up and hand feed him immediately.

"He then needed feeding every two hours – day and night – but luckily all my colleagues at the vet helped out. They let me bring him into work every day, and took him some nights so I could get some sleep."

Three weeks of round-the-clock care later, and Little Jimmy has opened his eyes and is taking his first steps.

Anja, of Church Lane, Oxted, said: "I'm 95 per cent sure he's going to make it now. He's getting stronger every day.

"You have to be careful with hand-rearing kittens because they can get behavioural problems when they're older without their mother there to keep them in check.

"I think there's definitely a danger of Little Jimmy getting spoiled because he's just so cute. But I've got four cats of my own so he's being adequately socialised."

Although Little Jimmy is out of the woods, he can't start looking for a permanent home until he's nine weeks old.

"It's going to be hard to say goodbye to him," Anja said. "But I live on a main road and don't think it would be safe to keep a kitten.

"But he's up on our East Surrey Cats Protection Facebook page and already getting a lot of attention. I think he will be very easy to re-home."