THREE kittens are being hand reared by a member of Keighley Cat Care after they were found dumped in gardens.

The find has prompted the charity to remind cat owners of their neutering scheme which, costing the pet owners a minimum donation of just £5, is aimed at reducing the number of unwanted kittens finding themselves on the streets.

The tiny kittens had to be fed every two hours, day and night by KCC volunteer Sharon Evans.

Two were found aged three days old in a garden in Holme Wood and the third, also aged around three days, was found a week earlier from another address in Bradford.

Volunteer Trish Armistead said finding the kittens provided a timely reminder of the neutering service they set up. she said: "Keighley Cat Care was founded in 2003 and although the charity has grown we are still only a handful of volunteers. Our aim is to rescue and find loving homes for as many homeless cats as we can.

"Our cats live with fosterers in their homes and it isn't unusual for the fosterers to, at times, have numbers in to double figures. At any one time we could have upwards of 70 cats in our care.

"In order to try to make a difference in the numbers of cats who find themselves out on the streets we began our £5 assisted neutering scheme in Keighley in August 2017.

"To date we have paid for more than 200 cats to be neutered. Owners book their cat in at Aireworth Vets and for a minimum fee of £5 the vet will carry out the procedure.

"It is a no questions asked scheme. We have now rolled this out in the Eccleshill area of Bradford. Owners can contact White Cross Vets in Eccleshill and for a minimum donation of £5 they can have their cat neutered. We are currently trying to raise £3,000 through crowdfunding to help with the cost.

"We are fortunate in that we have some space in the old Beale's shop in Cavendish Square, Keighley, and from here we run our charity shop.

"We manage to open four days each week. We always need donations of clothes, household items, bric a brac and anything we can use as prizes in our tombola's. We usually have a stall at Bingley and Keighley shows.

She added that Bradford also has its cat woes.

"There is a big problem in BD1 with colonies of feral cats so along with some of the smaller charities we are trapping and neutering as many of these as we can.

"The ferals are then either released back where they came from or found homes on farms, smallholdings or allotment sites.

Anyone wishing to donate to the neutering scheme can do so at: https://www.wildcrowd.org/campaigns/detail/59/neutering-in-bradford

Details of fostering kittens and cats can be found on the Keighley Cat Care website.