There is no excuse for abandoning an animal, but unfortunately, that happens around the world every day. That’s why workers at a veterinary clinic in New Zealand were sadly not surprised when they arrived to work one day to find a box of abandoned kittens outside the door.

There were four kittens inside the box, three boys and one girl, and they all seemed to be three to four weeks old. The vets took the kittens inside right away to give them a check-up.

“Of course, we all fell in love with them and vet nurse Nicole took them home to care for them overnight,” the clinic wrote on its Facebook page. They never could have imagined what would happen next.

The next morning, the vets noticed that a tabby cat kept trying to sneak and break into the clinic. The vets could not figure out what was happening, until they realized she was a feeding mother.

“Then the penny dropped!” the vets explained. “Sure enough, we introduced her to the ‘orphan’ kittens & there was a very happy reunion! Presumably, she had been in the box too & escaped before we arrived for work. She’s probably been prowling around all night looking for her kidnapped kittens!”

The mother cat and her kittens were fostered by someone who had just recently lost her pet cat. Once the kittens get a little bit older, they will be auctioned off to good homes, and all proceeds from this will go to charity. Since their story has gone viral, we doubt that the kittens will have any trouble finding the loving forever homes that they deserve!

We’re so glad that this story had a happy ending!