CATS in Comet country are becoming increasingly unwanted, with reports that phone calls from people in the area wanting to hand over their fluffy companions have trebled in the past few weeks.

The North Herts branch of local charity Cats Protection has said that normally they receive around four phone calls a week from people wanting to hand over their cats.

But recently there have been up to 15 phone calls a day, with between 30 and 40 calls over the week.

“The increase of people calling us has been absolutely enormous,” said Bianca Kubler, North Herts branch co-ordinator.

“I really don’t know where it’s come from. I wonder if people are taking on something and it has become too much.

“We have a limited amount of space, and we try to get cats into foster homes, but our resources are now stretched to the limit as finding good homes for cats in our care has become increasingly difficult.”

The branch, which is made up of volunteers, is desperately seeking for people to adopt cats and kittens that they take in.

And there are claims that other charities and branches across the area are also seeing an increase on people wanting to leave their pets.

“Many of our branches have found that cats are being abandoned more frequently. Between January and September 2009, nationally we received 5,945 reports of abandoned cats,” said an RSPCA spokesman. “Between January and September 2010 we received 8,455 reports of abandoned cats. We would urge anyone who is considering getting a cat in the near future to visit their local RSPCA or animal charity first.”