There may be no room at the inn for many at-risk animals this Christmas, with volunteers' own homes 'bulging” with an influx of rescued pets in Tauranga.

The RRR – Rescue, Revive, Rehome – are calling for more fosters to join their ranks as they deal with one of their busiest times of the year.

'This is a really tough time for us,” says RRR secretary and feline manager Liz Proudlock.

'We are getting four or five calls a day in the feline division alone of kittens being dumped.”

Liz tells the heart wrenching story of a box of kittens dumped in Te Puke earlier this month. The box was eventually hit by a car with just one kitten surviving. This happened just metres from the vets.

'It was just down the road,” Liz laments.

'They only had to walk down the road and deliver them.

'It is just endless - continuous cats and kittens and puppies being dumped and dropped at this time of year.”

RRR does not have a facility. Instead, they rely on fosters taking poorly pets into their own homes.

'We just have such a shortage of houses where we can put these animals,” Liz explains.

'They're our own homes, as volunteers are already bulging.”

Clair Batley's home is one such at-capacity location.

Clair, who leads the feline team of RRR with Liz, adopted a puppy from RRR three years ago. Soon she started fostering and it 'snowballed” from there.

Currently she has a spare room which has been repurposed into a cat hospital, such is the influx of felines at this time of year.

'We rely on fosters 100 per cent,” says Clair.

'We can't take animals in without foster homes. We have so many followers and supporters, but I don't think it is well known that we don't have a facility.

'We all have full-time jobs and families, so we are just doing what we can, when we can. We always need more fosters on board.”

Whilst Clair admits it can be hard work and an 'emotional rollercoaster”, the rewards can be plentiful.

'It is hard, but we have some amazing success stories.

'We have ones that go from death's door to being family pets, and that is why we do it at the end of the day.”

Anyone interested in becoming a foster can fill in an application form via: www.rrr.org.nz/foster/