A leading animal charity says it's on the brink of a cat crisis and in Kent almost two felines are rescued each day.

The RSPCA says it is bracing itself for a cat crisis as kitten season begins.

Staff at the charity are preparing themselves for an influx of cats and kittens as latest figures reveal last year 629 cats were abandoned in the county and taken in by the charity.

Watch some of the kittens which have been rescued

Most kittens are usually born between April and September which means during the kitten season the charity ends up with large amounts of young cats coming into its care.

July sees the most cats going into its centres and branches and the amount of cats abandoned in the summer months more than doubles compared to winter months.

Carrie Stones the RSPCA’s cat population control manager, said: “With an average of 86 cats coming into our care nationally every day and a peak in the number of abandoned cats reported to us in summer this clearly highlights the UK is facing a cat overpopulation crisis with so many cats ending up in rescue centres.

“We would always urge people to think about the long-term commitment that caring for a cat entails and avoid making a snap decision about whether to take on a cat or kitten, for example from family or friends or buying online.

“Sadly, we see so many litters of kittens dumped like rubbish in the summer months because often owners have made this quick decision and can no longer cope, or the kittens have been an unplanned litter and a shock to the owner of the moggy mum.

“There is no denying that kittens look cute but the reality of caring for them can be hard work, time consuming and costly.

"We, and other cat and vet organisations, believe the solution to this crisis is to neuter cats from four months old before they can become pregnant and therefore avoiding these unwanted litters.”

Here are some of the incidents the charity has dealt with this year already.

A kitten was abandoned in cafe toilets has now been reunited with his mum and siblings thanks to the RSPCA.

The three-week-old kitten was found abandoned in the toilets of a Costa Coffee in March.

The black kitten which was dumped in a plastic box with a little bit of cat food was too young to be away from his mum.

When the cafe staff discovered him in the toilets, they contacted the RSPCA and animal collection officer David Eckworth went to collect it.

He said: “When kittens are so young often they can need hand-rearing but luckily a foster mum became available at RSPCA an animal hospital where the kitten was being looked after.”

The mother cat and her litter of three kittens then went into the hospital just two days later after they were found on the same road as the kitten.

Staff suspect they could actually be the same family, so reunited them.

Elsewhere, workers called in animal rescuers after spotting a stray cat and her kittens living underneath a new set of escalators.

A woman contacted the charity after spotting the black and white puss and her four tiny kittens under the escalator.

Animal welfare officer Siobhan Trinnaman rushed to the scene to help the feline family.

She managed to rescue the kittens, who were just a few days old and still had their eyes closed, and later their mum was also rescued and the family are now at an RSPCA centre and are doing well.

The moggy mum was wearing a collar but was not microchipped.

And four kittens were found after they were “dumped like rubbish” in a cardboard box and left at the side of some bins.

A woman saw the box by near a block of flats and as she walked past she noticed it move.

Inside were four black and white kittens - who are thought to be about 10-weeks-old.

Animal welfare officer, Cara Gibbon rushed the two female and two male cats to an RSPCA branch.

She said: “It is awful to think these kittens were just dumped like rubbish and left by the side of some bins.

"It is just lucky that the lady saw the box they were in moving and cared enough to investigate."

Escaped animals, unusual finds and news from the RSPCA can all be found here.