There's more than one way to get rid of a cat, but leaving them in a box in the middle of a road isn't among the recommended options. A nursing mother cat and her three kittens were left boxed in the path of oncoming traffic last week before being rescued by a sharp-eyed member of the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association.

An attached note said the owner was unable to afford the fee charged by the SPCA to accept unwanted pets.

"We are really sorry," the owner wrote. "We cannot afford the SPCA surrender fee. After much research, we feel this is the best place for the cats."

The three dehydrated calico kittens were found alone trapped inside a box without food or water. The mother cat had managed to claw her way out of a separate box she had been placed in and, because she wouldn't leave her kittens, was able to be trapped nearby by another volunteer a few hours later.

"They were driving down the road that leads to the Wildlife Rescue, and in the middle of that road was the two boxes blocking they way," said association volunteer Karen Duncan. "The mother cat had been separated from her kittens, which would have driven her out of her mind."

She said the cats have since been placed in a foster home. "Mama is starting to dry out but you can tell she was really traumatized. The kittens are about six- or seven-weeks-old now and are eating from bowls and doing super-well."

The SPCA charges $75 per dog or $50 to accept an unwanted pet, and the fee is used to offset shelter costs and medical treatment, including vaccinations and spay/neutering.

SPCA spokesperson Ryan Voutilainen said the fee can be negotiable, depending on circumstances. "People just need to let us know that they're unable to afford it. We may require some sort of proof of income to prove that so we know you're being honest with us and not just trying to get away from paying the fee because we're non-profit. We'd definitely rather see the animals come into our shelter than be left out in the street."

He said the fee is also meant to hold owners accountable when they don't spay or neuter their pets.

However, many Lower Mainland shelters - including the one in Burnaby - are unable to take on new animals at the moment and are having to create waitlists because the dog days of summer have caused a congestion of cats. The annual return of warm summer weather causes female cats to go into heat, and July and August - also known as "kitten season" - is the time of year that generally sees the greatest amount of unwanted kittens turning up at animal shelters.

"We're doing our best, but we're absolutely over capacity right now," said Voutilainen. "The welfare of the cats and kittens we already have in our care is our first priority, so unfortunately at this time we can't accommodate cats who are being surrendered by their guardians. We are seeing the number of adoptions being way down and the number of animals coming in way up."

Voutilainen said this year has been abnormally busy, and he has a pet theory that the current economic climate is partly to blame, with some pet owners not wanting to pay to have their animals spayed or neutered, while potential adopters may not want to take on the expense of a new pet.

As of July 30, there were 3,100 cats and kittens in the SPCA's network of shelters and foster homes.

The Burnaby SPCA currently has 62 cats available for adoption. Visit www.spca.bc.ca or stop by their shelter, located at 3202 Norland Ave., to check out their cats and dogs needing new homes.