Rescue Kittens Get Hardware-Themed Names After Being Found on a Lowe's Shelf
Meet Forklift, Herb, Pallet, Planter, Grass Seed, Lowe, and Rose — seven newborn kittens whose names will forever commemorate the most unusual nursery imaginable: a high shelf in the Garden Center of a Pennsylvania Lowe’s.
When rescuers at Lucky Dawg Animal Rescue took in the tiny litter, they leaned into the quirky circumstances of the discovery, christening each kitten with a name pulled straight from the hardware store setting where they were found.
The result is a roster that reads more like a shopping list than a litter of cats — and animal lovers online are eating it up.
“Please name one ‘Bob the Builder’ and ‘Tool Man Tim,’” one Facebook commenter suggested, adding, “Love this catch!!! Thanks for all you do!!!”
Forklift’s name carries particular weight, as you’ll soon see — the piece of machinery played a starring role in the rescue itself. Herb, Planter, Grass Seed, and Rose are all nods to the Garden Center’s usual inventory, while Pallet and Lowe honor the store’s infrastructure and name directly.
How Seven Rescue Kittens Ended Up on a Lowe’s Shelf
The hardware-themed naming convention only makes sense once you know the backstory.
Staff at the Lowe’s on Cornerstone Boulevard in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, stumbled onto the tiny felines while trying to bring down a pallet in the Garden Center. Tucked away in boxes high on a shelf were two separate litters — seven newborns in total — born to a pair of feral mother cats who had apparently judged the busy retail space ideal for raising a family.
The hiding spot was so remote that workers needed heavy equipment just to reach the babies.
“There’s no way anybody would see them, you can hardly hear anything in there, it’s busy,” Lisa Newton of Lucky Dawg Animal Rescue told WPVI.
The Rescue Kittens Were Nearing a Tragedy
When Newton got the call on a Saturday, she found kittens she estimated were only three or four weeks old — far too young to eat on their own and entirely dependent on bottle-feeding and constant supervision. The timing, she noted, could hardly have been more critical.
“I’m just glad we got them early because once they start crawling around, they could fall and die,” Newton told WPVI.
Today, all seven kittens — Forklift, Herb, Pallet, Planter, Grass Seed, Lowe, and Rose — are being bottle-fed and looked after at Newton’s home, where they’re putting on weight and gaining strength by the day.
Of all the names, Forklift may be the most literally earned. Because the kittens were stashed so high up, workers had no way to retrieve them by hand.
“They had to get the forklift and go up and get them. One of the litters, you could tell that’s where the mom had delivered them,” Newton told WPVI.
That detail confirmed what rescuers suspected — at least one of the mother cats had actually given birth on the shelf itself, turning a stack of store merchandise into a makeshift maternity ward.
The Ensuing Search for Mom (and Mom)
Both mother cats are feral regulars at the Lowe’s Garden Center, and both bolted when the rescue operation began. But the Lucky Dawg team refused to leave them behind.
“The moms, who are feral, ran off during the rescue, but humane traps have been set and we are hopeful we’ll be able to bring them to safety soon as well,” Lucky Dawg Animal Rescue wrote in a Facebook update.
One of the two mothers has already been found. Rescuers continue to look for the second. Once both are safely in hand, the organization plans to have them spayed or neutered to ensure no more litters end up tucked between garden supplies.
As for the kittens, they should be ready for their forever homes in roughly six to seven weeks, once they’ve grown enough to leave foster care.
Anyone hoping to welcome Forklift, Herb, Pallet, Planter, Grass Seed, Lowe, or Rose into their home can submit an application through Lucky Dawg’s website. With interest climbing fast, sooner is better than later.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
