AN ANIMAL rescue charity is urging the public to think before they buy a pet as the UK sees a boom in kitten buying.

Latest figures from the RSPCA show there have been 492 cat incidents in East Sussex this year.

New figures show Google searches for kittens’ in July soared by 667 per cent, compared with the same period last year.

During the lockdown, there was also a 114 per cent increase in the number of people searching for cats to adopt on the RSPCA’s find a pet page compared with the previous year.

Alice Potter, the RSPCA’s cat welfare expert, said people should not buy kittens on impulse.

She said: “It’s fantastic that so many people are interested in bringing a cat into their home this year.

“However, with such high increases in people searching for kittens online, it’s important that prospective owners are doing their research and not buying a kitten on impulse.

“This means making sure they have the time, money and resources to care for a cat for the rest of their lives, but also ensuring that if buying a kitten they are buying a healthy and happy kitten from a responsible breeder.

“It’s true that we see much higher cases of puppy farms than unscrupulous kitten breeders but it does happen which is why it’s so important to do your research and make sure you’re buying from a reputable seller.

“Since the start of the year, we have received more than 45,000 incidents relating to cats, meaning there are lots of cats in our care looking for homes.”

Cats are popular pets with the charity rehoming 24,095 last year – that’s one cat rehomed every 20 minutes across England and Wales and 385 cats rehomed in East Sussex.

Mrs Potter said the RSPCA would always encourage people to adopt a rescue cat instead.

She said: “It’s great to see so many people are looking to adopt a rescue cat with more than a million people visiting our cat find a pet page during the pandemic.

“We are braced for a kitten season boom next year as routine neutering procedures had to be put on hold during the lockdown.

“This means that whilst the UK is already facing a cat overpopulation crisis, we may now see even more unplanned litters of kittens. If you’ve got a kitten during lockdown, it’s so important to get them booked into your vets for a spay or a snip.”