One thing that is completely predictable about the animal rescue world is that it is extremely unpredictable. You never know what is going to happen next. One phone call or email and the best laid plans get thrown to the side, and it's all hands-on deck.

Today's tale is testament to that. We were going to be looking at another of our heart wrenching rescue and recovery stories from the past, but the last two days have changed those plans! Rather than writing about one particularly harrowing case that ended in hope, we are instead looking at the worst case of neglect and abandonment that we have seen in our entire 20 years of rescue. Just hours ago we had never seen the fate of so many rescues hanging so precariously in the balance.

It began as a normal day. A bit grey, gloomy, and wet. Volunteers arrived to clean the stables, feed the birds, and cuddle the cats. Our animal care team were doing their usual feeding rounds and health checks. Everyone met up for the daily 10.30 team brew. The tills were ringing in the shops. It had been a busy year, rescuing more cats than ever, and kitten season was still ongoing -- running from January to December rather than the usual March to October -- but there was a sense of things winding down slightly as we approached Christmas.

Then the phone call came.

It was the social services. They had been to a house in on a welfare related issue but what unfolded before them needed expert animal rescue support. Somewhere in a house, where rubbish bags, clothes and other detritus piled up across every floor, in every corner, and on every worktop, was an untold number of cats. At least 10. Many were weeks if not days old – those that they could find, anyway. None had eaten in over a week, and all were in various states of disarray.

We immediately reorganised our volunteers so that our front line, experienced, animal care staff could attend. We packed two cars to the brim with cat carriers, PPE, and emergency nutrition, and headed off not knowing what awaited.

Our imaginations, nor 20 years' experience of rescuing from all sorts of environments couldn't even have prepared us for what unfolded. Amongst the debris, and hiding in cupboards, under beds and behind furniture were kittens and cats of all age and size. Skittish, scared, hungry and covered in filth of all types.

The search began and we started triaging the most urgent cases whilst in constant contact with vets and the staff back at the sanctuary who were reorganising our pens in preparation for isolation lockdown should these new rescues have transmissible diseases. It took four hours of foraging, coaxing and trapping until darkness fell, and we could not safely locate any more. All in all ten cats were found with three going to the vets for emergency treatment. All were starving, dehydrated, and covered in filth. Their bodies and coats in such disarray that we could not accurately tell the age of many of them.

Safely back at the sanctuary the 3 youngest kittens were cleaned and then taken home by animal care staff for vital round the clock feeding whilst the remainder were cleaned, fed, rehydrated and health checked followed by regular monitoring visits.

Early the next day the team went back to rescue the remaining cats. This 5 hour process saw 10 more cats rescued. In total this means that we had rescued four litters of different ages - 10 days, 4 weeks, 12 weeks and 16 weeks, and strangely, no adult cats. Our friends and colleagues at the RSPCA therefore set humane traps in the hope that we could rescue any adult cats who were still present in the house, but hiding.

All of those we were able to rescue are now receiving the best possible care, and close monitoring - many of them already showing signs of excellent progress and weight gain even in such a short period.

Whilst extremely challenging and stressful, this operation shows the best of the animal rescue world.

Whilst we have always learned that you have to be adaptable and flexible, without having volunteers ready to step in and reorganise we wouldn't have had the staff on hand to attend the rescue.

Without a fantastic animal care team we wouldn't have been able to enter such a tough environment and coax as many cats into safety, triage them, and prioritise immediate care actions.

Without fantastic vets we wouldn't have been able to get such care so immediately.

Without our fundraising team we wouldn't have been able to share this story with the public as and when it happened.

Without the support and kindness of the public we would not be able to afford the care of so many rescues and their vet bills.

Without the support and compassion of fellow rescues -- Bleakholt, Freshfields, and Oak Hill, we wouldn't have been able to facilitate safe and sanitary care for all of those saved from that house.

Without the dedication of the RSPCA we wouldn't be able to leave without wondering if we'd truly saved every animal in that house.

The rescue world is only as strong as its weakest link, and if any part of this process wasn't there, or had faltered, then without doubt so many young feline lives would not have the hope they have today.

Whilst this is not the story we expected to be telling this Christmas, no other situation embodies the sense of community, family, selflessness and dedication than that which unfolded before us over the past 48 hours.