At just a few hours old, these five tiny kittens should be nestled somewhere warm with their mother.

Newham Recorder: The two surviving kittens with their motherThe two surviving kittens with their mother (Image: Celia Hammond)

Instead, they were found freezing cold and wet in a garden in Queen’s Road, Upton Park.

They were barely breathing when they were collected by a rescue worker from the Celia Hammond Animal Trust on Tuesday morning.

“They were so cold we thought all but one of them were dead,” said Celia.

They were warmed up and put with their mother, who was cold and hungry when she was rescued, but sadly three of them did not make it.

Celia said that the situation highlighted the importance of neutering cats.

She said: “She clearly had been lost or abandoned and if her owners had had her neutered, she would not have been in this awful predicament - her kittens starving and freezing cold with nowhere warm and dry for her to feed and look after them.”

The two remaining kittens and their mother are now said to be doing well, and the trust will be looking to rehome the three of them together when they are old enough.