An urgent appeal has gone out for new homes for unwanted kittens.

In the past few months, more and more adult cats and kittens have turned up on the doorstep of Craven RSPCA.

And with all available rescue centres full to breaking point, the charity has made a desperate appeal for people to come forward and adopt a cat.

Branch co-ordinator Pam Laking said they currently had 12 kittens from two different litters that were looking for homes.

“We’ve been absolutely inundated with unwanted kittens. We’ve had people hand them in after finding them left in boxes and one lot was left in the middle of a busy road,” she said.

The charity always has plenty of abandoned cats, but Pam believes the present economic situation has meant many more being dumped.

“We’ve had cats brought to us whose owners have had to leave their homes and they’ve been left on the doorstep, then there are others whose owners can’t afford to pay for them any more,” she said.

Another issue that leads to more unwanted kittens is the number of un-neutered male and female cats.

“If only everyone who owned a cat had it neutered, we would stop having so many unwanted kittens,” said Pam.

“And it’s not just the females who need neutering. People need to realise that an un-neutered male is not only going to make lots of females pregnant, but is not such a nice pet.”

The homeless kittens, aged between seven and nine weeks, are all healthy and ready to go to new homes right away.

“They are very well socialised because they’ve been in foster homes where they’ve been around children, other cats and even dogs,” said Pam.

“They will make wonderful pets and are just waiting for new homes.”

* Anyone able to give one – or more – of the kittens a home should contact Pam Laking on 07949 229955.