PAINTED POST, N.Y. (WENY) -- Officials at the Pawz and Purrz Animal Rescue say they took the three kittens in after they were found on the side of the road in Bath. Luckily for then kittens, they were spotted by a passerby a short time after they were thrown out of the car.

    "We received a call yesterday about some kittens that were thrown from a car, in a cardboard box, thrown out the window as the car was moving," said Pawz and Purrz Animal Shelter secretary, Vicki Eichenlaub. "A woman found them; heard them screaming and tried desperately to find someone to help her take care of them."

    That's when  the passerby called Paws and Purrz Animal Shelter. Officials from the shelter say all three kittens are male and are anywhere between six to eight weeks old. They say when they got the kittens, they were in very bad health and completely infested with fleas.

    "They all have upper respiratory infections, eye infections and one of them has a bulging eye that's going to need to be removed," said Pawz and Purrz Animal Shelter Vice President, Tina Wright. "We don't think that they were injured when they were thrown from the car, but they were sick and had been neglected previously to that happening."

    The passerby was able to get a description of the car and driver and filed a report with the Steuben County Sheriff's Department. For now, shelter's main goal is getting the cats healthy again before finding them a forever home.

    "They came here to Rio Vista veterinary hospital today and they were examined by Dr. Dodds and the third kitty is going to need to have his eyeball removed, but she wanted to have him on antibiotics for a little bit first and he needs to gain a little weight," said Wright. "They're all a little malnourished, and he's going to come back on Wednesday and have surgery."