Stray cats are no stranger to our area, but their population has been increasing.

And local shelters are running out of room.

The Humane Society of Warren County says more and more cats aren't being neutered or spayed and they're having kittens, which is creating an overpopulation.

"There are so many cats... the cat population has exploded," said Humane Society of Warren County Adoption Coordinator, Lea Frazier.

And ignoring stray cats, only makes the overpopulation worse.

"They will multiply, they fight, they spread diseases, they're all sorts of difficulties," said Humane Society of Warren County Feline Attendant, Bonnie Rayburn.

As the adoption coordinator, Frazier strives to find homes for all of these cats. But the more cats they get, the harder it is to place them with families.

"It is very frustrating, that this number of cats do not have homes," said Frazier.

Many cats that are brought it as strays aren't neutered or spayed.

"People neglect to spay or neuter their animals, they think it's not a problem... that it's not going to increase the cat population," said Frazier.

And strays brought it, are found just about everywhere.

"A lot of them are down by the river, people will leave them in the apartment complexes, sometimes there are pockets of them in wooded areas," said Rayburn.

Just in the past year, the Humane Society has had 1,500 strays in and out of the shelter.

"We do have people that have brought stray cats in that have been on their property that do not belong to them. They'll trap them or catch them and bring them to the shelter," said Fraizer.

Grace Snyder is one of those people.

"I've found one kitten in town, and I just brought it to the Humane Society because they have a lot of space for cats and it's great. They're treated really well. And people come here and adopt them," said Snyder.

And shelters like this are hoping more families come in to do just that.

In addition strays, Front Royal has received complaints about wild cats, and they've been discussing how to handle that situation as well.

While stray cats can be brought to any Humane Society, if you see a wild cat, you need to call animal control.

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