“Cats on the roof, cats inside the house, it seems like they are replacing the oth­erwise multitudinous mice these days,” says Sushant Shrestha, who lives in Kamaladi. Indeed, the ubiq­uitous street dogs have always been the talk of the town. Recently it is the street cats that seem to be garnering the attention. Street dogs usually pose a problem when you are out and about but cats can be anywhere, in the streets staring at you, in your kitchen slowly sneak­ing in to enjoy some milk, or even under your car. “Based on the increase in the average number of daily reports on cats and the growing number of cats we treat in our rescue and treatment program, I suspect Kath­mandu’s cat population is increas­ing,” says Samuel G Davies, one of the board members at the Kath­mandu Animal Treatment (KAT) Center. At the moment, KAT Cen­ter, which was established in 2004, is treating around 15-20 stray cats a month, which is “more than we used to get.”

Seema Sharma of Bafal, says, “Though cats do not usually cause any physical harm their crying and fighting at night really disturbs my sleep.” Likewise, Guneet Singh, from Kupondole, complains, “Sometimes they climb into my home and scour the dustbins in search of food. Even though the main door is locked, they enter from the terrace.” Sushant Shres­tha suspects the cats know the blue­print of his whole house. “They know where the kitchen is and all the entrances which lead to the kitchen.” Again, all these testimo­nies are indicative of an increasing cat population.

Davies attributes the increase in the number of stray cats to “rapid expansion and increasing urban­ization of Kathmandu.” According to him, most developing cities have large stray dog populations. By contrast, more developed plac­es have larger feral populations. This is true of every major city: London, New York, Seoul or Tokyo. In what Davies labels “urbaniza­tion switch,” the dog population is more controlled while the cat population goes up.

Ben Charman, the commu­nications officer at KAT Center, says that as cities develop they start spaying dogs. This decreas­es dog population, which in turn means “more free food and open spaces for cats”. Additionally, when street dogs become rare, the number of natural predators of cats is also reduced, further fueling cat population.

This raises animal welfare con­cern and increases the risk of dis­ease transmission. According to Davies, dogs are much easier to handle and effective measures can be taken to control their move­ment. “It is easier to ensure the majority of the dogs are vaccinated. But that is not the case with cats that roam more freely and are not incorporated into any successful vaccination program due to the dif­ficulty of catching them,” he says.

But is there no practical way to control cat population then? Davies encourages cat owners to get their pets spayed and neutered as “this is where the majority of breeding takes place”. KAT Center is setting up a mass feline sterilization ward, the first of its kind in Nepal. Once the ward is up and running, he urg­es locals of Kathmandu to report cats in their area and assist with their catching and transport for surgery. This, he points out, would be useful in decreasing the number of kittens being born and in con­trolling stray cat population.