A WORCESTERSHIRE-based animal rehoming centre is urging cat owners to make sure their pets are neutered to prevent unwanted litters of kittens.

As the weather warms up and the days lengthen, cats become more active as their heat cycles are triggered by daylight hours.

Claire Tregunna, shelter manager at Worcestershire Animal Rescue Shelter, said until about a month ago they had only looked after one litter of kittens this year.

Since then a feral cat with six kittens, a semi feral cat with five kittens and another pregnant cat had been brought in. She said she had heard other animal rescue and rehoming centres in Worcestershire had been inundated with cats and kittens.

“I will end up with about 15 kittens I am going to have to find homes for. There is also a cost for us as we provide shelter, food and the first vaccination for kittens we rehome,” said Claire.

If the kittens are still with the shelter at the age of five months, the shelter also pays for them to be neutered and microchipped.

“It is an ongoing problem. There is no law protecting cats and people let them go out and wander. If they are not neutered, they will go out and get pregnant, pop out the kittens and then do it again. With feral cats it is never ending.”

Claire is urging cat owners to get their animals – both male and female – neutered. She added that a neutered cat has fewer health risks than one left unneutered.

“You can have a well-loved female cat and think she will not get pregnant but she will. The best thing for the owner to do with any animal is to get it neutered. It will not solve everything but it will help and it is a step in the right direction.

“Owners should get male cats neutered as well as the females. It will stop them spraying and going out looking for a mate.”

More details about Worcestershire Animal Rescue Centre at Newland, Worcestershire, can be found by visiting http://www.wars.org.uk/ or ringing 01905 831651.

According to national charity Support Adoption for Pets, which has provided financial aid to over 1,000 UK animal re-homing centres, it is estimated 850,000 kittens are born in the UK each year and there are more than two million stray cats in the country.

Amy Wilson, the charity’s manager, said: “The crisis facing rehoming centres due to kitten season starts now, with many of our partners expecting a significant increase in the number of abandoned kittens.

“It is crucial that cat owners neuter their cats as soon as they are old enough, which is around four months. Now the evenings are lighter, cats will roam for longer and venture further away all in search of a mate and it’s highly likely it will return pregnant during spring if not neutered.

A cat’s short reproduction cycle causes further concern, with pregnancy only lasting for nine weeks, and female’s coming back into season just six weeks after giving birth. Cats can have litters of up to nine kittens at one time.

Amy added: “It’s not surprising we have a huge over-population problem during spring and summer, which puts immense pressure on animal rehoming organisations, particularly smaller, local centres.

“If these smaller facilities get handed just one large litter of abandoned kittens, that could be its quota, and it will have to care for these until they are old enough to be re-homed, temporarily turning away other animals in need in the meantime.”