WATSON - More than 30 cats were abandoned by their owners and taken in by a local woman who is now facing the overwhelming challenge of caring for them. 

After years of rescuing and fostering animals, Devona Foster is now caring for 29 kittens — and four very overwhelmed mama cats. She says she received them from an acquaintance who said his neighbors moved away and abandoned their pregnant cats.

"I couldn't turn it down because I mean, if I said no and he let those cats out, how many kittens would we have in 6 months?" Foster said. "This is a lot, do you know anybody who wants 29 kittens? I don't." 

Now, three days into caring for these kittens, it's beginning to be a bigger job than anticipated. 

"They're eating six cans of kitten food three times a day, the mamas and the kittens that are starting to eat. And it's a lot of litter, it's a lot of laundry because they have blankets that need to be washed. It's a lot of work, a lot of work," Foster said.

Luckily, the youngest kittens can still get the nutrition they need. 

"Thank goodness we have the moms because from the pictures he sent me, it looked like they were a lot bigger than what they were. So when they got here and saw that they were small, we were glad we have the moms because the moms are taking care of them,” Foster said.

For Foster, it's hard to understand how someone could abandon an animal like this.

"The people that dump their animals, how do you sleep at night? If you took in an animal that was supposed to be your pet forever and you dumped it because you got tired of it," Foster said.

Dumping animals is illegal.

Foster said so much suffering could be avoided if the four mother cats had been spayed.

"We have to spay and neuter, you have to spay and neuter your pets, you have to spay and neuter stray animals that's around your house. I always say if you feed it, fix it. If this lady would have fixed one cat a month, it would have cost her 60 dollars to just fix this cat. We wouldn't be in this situation," Foster said.

Foster says she's working to get all of the kittens healthy and ready for foster homes — some of those babies will be ready in a week. 

She asks that anyone who wants to help to either purchase from her Amazon wishlist for kitty supplies or sponsor a kitten. Foster can be reached through her Facebook page.

Residents in Livingston Parish are to get their pets spayed and neutered at low cost with Pet Aid and Dog People of Livingston Parish.