Something shocking happened on the way to the shelter …

A few weeks ago in Rome, Georgia, a woman was walking her dog near a wood line when her pup suddenly started acting up. At first, the woman had no idea why — then she heard the sound of kittens meowing.

Concerned, she ventured into the woods and spied a cardboard box. A closer look inside the box revealed five kittens huddled together.

As she was still processing her discovery of the kittens, two adult cats walked up and joined her. One was clearly the kittens’ mama, and the other one was heavily pregnant.

Thankfully, the woman’s brother, Ricky, just happened to be a volunteer for Floyd Felines, a local cat rescue. The two of them worked together to transport the babies and both mamas into their car so they could get them to Floyd Felines as quickly as possible.

On the way, something shocking happened: The pregnant mama started giving birth.

“The minute they put her into a laundry basket with a blanket, I guess she felt safe enough to have her baby,” Emily, a volunteer at Floyd Felines who preferred to have her last name omitted, told The Dodo.

By the time they arrived at the rescue facility, two of the kittens had been born. Soon after, the mama gave birth to two more babies. The volunteers couldn’t believe it had all happened so quickly, but were glad the cat had felt comfortable with them.

The other mama, who’d been supporting her newborns all by herself, needed lots of care and pampering. After devouring three cans of wet food, she started feeling a bit better.

“She was skin and bones and ravenous,” Emily said.

Unfortunately, the Floyd Felines volunteers rescue stray pregnant mama cats and abandoned kittens all the time. In the Southeast, the weather is so warm that it allows cats to have up to five litters of kittens in just one year. So the rescuers focus on spaying and neutering as many cats as possible to mitigate the issue.

“We promise every mom that comes into our shelter that this is her last litter,” Chrissy, a volunteer at Floyd Felines who preferred to have her last name omitted, told The Dodo.

The two mamas, named Phyllis and Mary Kate, have been enjoying relaxing and recovering from their ordeal. Once their babies are big enough, they’ll be vaccinated, fixed and available for adoption.