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It turns out troops aren’t the only ones who can get a helping hand at the USO.

A cat crawled through a small hole in the foundation of the USO building at U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo in Southwest Japan, this spring and gave birth to seven kittens.

In June, after a few weeks of hearing phantom meows, the USO Sasebo staff realized they had some feline squatters and called the base’s public works team. After cutting an additional hole in a wall, the kittens were eventually coaxed out one at a time until all seven newborns were freed. They were then passed to a foster family and have since all been placed in permanent homes.