THE county’s RSPCA animal sanctuary says it has a record number of kittens needing new homes, but no-one coming forward to take them.

Willow Farm Rescue Centre, which opened two years ago in Chilton, near Didcot, is filled with abandoned, injured or rescued cats and kittens from across the county.

There are now 38 cats, 19 of them kittens, being looked after by staff and volunteers, with many taken to foster homes until new owners come forwards.

Animal care assistant Lucia Singer said it was “unheard of” to have so many kittens in the sanctuary at one time.

She said: “Last year, we stopped having a waiting list because there were 20 people for each kitten we had. Now it is the other way round.

“We have close to 20 kittens, but not enough people wanting to home them.”

Even the sanctuary’s isolation unit is now filled with kittens, who have to share with up to seven others in a pen until they are re-homed.

Among the recent arrivals are 13 kittens born in a farmer’s barn near Banbury, parented by a feral cat used to keep the farm clear of mice.

Another cat, Burma, was left in a box with her five kittens at the entrance to the Chilton sanctuary last month.

Meanwhile one-year-old black cat Polly weighed less than two kilograms when she was brought in two weeks ago, having been locked inside her owner’s house in Reading without food.

Ms Singer said: “Somebody just left him for several days and weeks, and when the neighbours noticed they started feeding him through the letterbox.

“The owner then shut him in a single room, so the neighbours could not even do that any more. At that point they called the RSPCA.”

She added: “The sanctuary is close to being as full as we have ever been. We have a massive waiting list of cats wanting to come in.

“The number of kittens we have is completely unheard of. We never usually have them here for a month or more, and to have them just not moving on has never happened before.”

She said that many people in the county did not know about the sanctuary, which also has three horses, 17 rabbits, plus hamsters, rats, and a ferret, many of which need rehoming.

Ms Singer added: “It is the summer holidays now, so some people may not be getting them because they know they are going away.

“When the recession hit it was very noticeable that people, particularly with dogs, were giving up their pets, either because they had to move house and their landlords would not allow them, or because they lost their jobs.

“But on top of that, I think people may not know we exist.”

To contact the rehoming centre, call 01235 821536.