Welfare officer Janet Rose said the volunteers were inundated with requests and had to turn away litters of kittens as they simply didn't have enough resources to look after them.

Ms Rose's message was simple: "If you can't afford to get your cat or kitten desexed when you get it, I would prefer you didn't get it."

The branch consists of a number of volunteers looking after animals from their homes, while they prepare the animals to be rehomed.

The volunteers take on animals by request of the Dubbo City Animal Shelter which is managed by Dubbo Regional Council.

According to Ms Rose, cats can be desexed when they reach a minimum weight, which is 1kg, and they usually reach this weight around 10 weeks old.

"You don't have to wait until they are 12 months old, it's too late then. A female cat can have two litters by then," she said.

Ms Rose said the situation with unwanted cats, kittens and litters of kittens was "just horrific in Dubbo".

"The shelter is having so many animals left in the overnight pens as they can't cope with the volume," she said.

She encouraged people to adopt from AWL.

"Your animal comes already desexed, vaccinated, microchipped, and flea- and worm-treated," she said.

Pet adoptions have slowed down at the branch since their peak in August 2021 which Ms Rose said could have been due to increased adoptions while people were working from home.

The Dubbo branch opened six months ago and the team is hoping to host an adoption drive soon.

"The support we're getting from businesses and the community is very encouraging," Ms Rose said.