The Kitten Rescue in Atwater Village is feeling the heat of kitten season

ATWATER VILLAGE (KABC) -- The Kitten Rescue in Atwater Village is overflowing with kittens.

Why? It's kitten season.

"Kitten season starts around March and ends around November. It's a time where cats are having kittens in the streets and our shelters become full of kittens and they can't handle the overflow," said Sandra Harrison the Executive Director of the Kitten Rescue.

"We've had about 500 come to the nursery so far this year and will probably get 800 through here by the end of the year," she said.

The kitten rescue has about 30 kittens at their facility and the staff is working around the clock to care for them.

The babies need to be bottle-fed every 2 to 4 hours until they're 4 weeks old.

The Kitten Rescue tries to find foster homes for kittens between 4 to 8 weeks old because they're not ready to be adopted yet and it can make room at the nursery for new kittens that need specialized attention.

By the time the kittens are about 8 weeks old, they're ready to be adopted.

"All of our kittens come from L.A. city shelters and this year unfortunately intake at city shelters has been up 17%," said Harrison.

Harrison says that the only way to slow down kitten season and stop overproducing kittens is to make spay and neutering low-cost and accessible to everyone.