A DESPERATE plea has gone out to animal lovers to help house hundreds of homeless York cats.

The city's cat shelter is snowed under with new arrivals, as summer is their busiest period, being similar to the post-Christmas boom in unwanted dogs. As a result Cats Protection in York is stretched to breaking point. "It's really crazy here at the moment," said James Hodgkison, manager of its shelter in Huntington Road.

"It's the middle of the kitten season so we're pretty full up at the inn, but people still want us to take in their unwanted pets as soon as possible.

"Then there are others who just callously dump their cats in the vicinity of the shelter, leaving us to deal with the problem."

The organisation blames irresponsible owners who do not have their cats neutered as a major factor in the massive over-crowding. It says that as cats can have three litters of an average of five or six kittens yearly, an un-neutered female cat can, in just five years, be responsible for up to 20,000 descendants.

And they say the current holiday season is making the situation even worse, with shelters seen as the easy answer for those going on a summer holiday who don't want to pay cattery fees.

York Shelter, like others around the UK, currently has more than 200 cats and kittens in its care, with the same number again on waiting lists.

But they say there is little hope of waiting times being reduced quickly when, for example, a group of 35 tiny kittens - many sick and in need of veterinary care - were left outside a shelter.

Now they are counting on animal lovers to come forward and help out.

"We're desperate to meet people who can give a cat or kitten a loving home," said Mr Hodgkinson.

"It's been really quiet on that front recently, probably because of the holiday season.

"We can only hope that things begin to improve soon."

Updated: 08:40 Thursday, August 07, 2003