AN abandoned newborn baby was saved from freezing to death by the unlikeliest of hero — a stray cat, The Daily Mail reported.

    The tabby named Marsha climbed into the box in which the infant had been dumped and kept the child warm for several hours as the mercury plunged below zero, the report said.

    Residents in the residential block found the unusual surrogate curled around the freezing boy and licking his face after being alerted by his cries, according to the report.

    “The baby had only been outside for a few hours and thanks to Masha … he was not damaged by the experience,” a hospital spokesman told Central European News.

    Nadezhda Makhovikova, who lives in the building in Obninsk in the Kaluga region of Russia, told REN TV that she ventured into the stairwell after hearing what sounded like a cat meowing in distress.

    “When I went down, I saw it was the baby crying,” she said.

    Mothering Marsha ran after paramedics as they took the tiny baby to the ambulance, it was reported.

    The baby, a boy aged between 2 to 3 months, was taken to a hospital where he was checked over by medics, the report said.

    The infant, who was found in clean clothes and with a pack of nappies, was declared fit and healthy, despite her hours in the cold, according to the report.

    Marsha has since been spoiled rotten with food by the residents in the block of flats, the report said.

    Police have launched a search for the parents while the baby is being cared for in a hospital.

    (SD-Agencies)