My next door neighbour, a single mum, recently moved in. Shortly after, she acquired two kittens - one male and one female.

One day my wife and I were in the garden when we heard kittens meowing and looking over the fence, we found two kittens approx 16wks old left out on the back garden, seemingly hungry and wanting attention. Our neighbour had gone out and was nowhere to be seen.

They jumped up the fence and wanted to come and play, as kittens do. We gave them some food, which they absolutely woolfed down. They spent a long time in our garden, despite us having a ten yr old cat, Buffy, who looked at them with a degree of suspicion from afar!

It was getting late and our neighbour still hadn't got back and we noticed that the back garage door she'd left open for them had blown shut in the wind and they had no shelter. I improvised a hook and managed to pull the door back open for them.

We told her later and she didn't seem that bothered to be honest and we were quite concerned.

A week or so later, she went out Friday, Saturday and only returned late on Sunday evening - the kittens had been left with a door that kept blowing closed and any other cat could go in and eat any food left for them.

We've felt desperately sorry for them and done our best to provide some food and shelter for them, as we do not believe our neighbour is properly looking after them, not does she seem that bothered when we ask her.

It's getting cold outside now and they seem to be left outside all night, which seems cruel. They've come to regard our garden as 'home' and spend most of their time here. Our cat, Buffy, whilst she'll never be their best friend, seems to have accepted them and allows them to come up to her.

Last night was bitterly cold and we heard a pawing/scratching noise at the rear patio door and there they both were, seemingly desperate for attention and warmth. We'd been trying to avoid this for a while, but I said to my wife that we just couldn't ignore them anymore and we allowed them in. They had a whale of a time, playing with toys as though they'd never played before. When they were tired out, they came and sat on our knees and fell deeply asleep. I wonder if it was the first really good sleep they've had for ages, being on edge outside normally.

We allowed them to stay in our living room overnight and they were perfectly happy and greeted us with a cheery "MYA!" this morning. We left them outside and they're happily in the little shelter I made for them on our patio table.

We're now faced with the dilemna with what we do - my wife and I would willingly take them in and become our cats, it's just how we approach next door for I really don't know how she'll react.

Both need spaying/neutering soon, as they'll be around 4-5 months old now. I wonder how, as a single mum, she's going to be able to afford this, or even if they've been vaccinated.

What do we do??

(Sorry for the length of this - didn't know how else to describe things)