Kitten rescued from womb of her dead mother.

Two teenagers performed a caesarean section on a dead cat they found along a New Brunswick road, saving two of four kittens.

Monica Castonguay, 15, and Kim Quimpère, 13, said they found the animal on July 31 while they were on their way for a walk in the woods near St. Quentin, a town in northwestern New Brunswick.

They told a French-language newspaper, the Acadie Nouvelle, that they recognized the cat and knew it was pregnant.

After discovering that the cat's body was still warm, they decided to try to save its kittens – even though neither of them knew how to do a caesarean section or had studied biology.

Kim borrowed a sweater, knife and some cotton swabs from a nearby house.

They decided Monica would do the surgery. She told the newspaper she wasn't sure where to cut, but made an incision into the mother cat's belly and could see the kittens.

She pulled them out and found that two of four kittens were still alive, so she cut their umbilical cords and wiped the mucus from their noses.

Kim bundled the kittens carefully in the sweater, then the teens raced home with them.

They telephoned several people but were unable to reach a veterinarian.

That evening, a cat in the neighbourhood that had recently lost its brood heard the kittens mewing and adopted them. One of the kittens later died but the other was adopted by Monica.

The teens said the experience in no way swayed them toward becoming doctors or veterinarians.

Kim told the newspaper that she found the experience interesting but rather nauseating.