At an apartment complex in Rathdrum, a four-legged community has established roots - complete with its own hierarchy of mothers, children and promiscuous tomcat fathers.

These feral cats - cats that have never had contact with humans or have had less and less contact over their lives - run rampant throughout the complex and their origins are as varied as the colors of their fur.

According to Dr. Mary McKinney, a veterinarian at Timberlake Litter Control in Spirit Lake, the animals were left at the complex by residents who moved away, were abandoned there by owners who live elsewhere, or simply wandered into the area to take their place in the community.

"It's unbelievable," McKinney said. "They are running around everywhere."

The case at the Rathdrum apartment complex is not uncommon.

Pockets of feral cats are located throughout Kootenai County, McKinney said, and for the last five years, she and a team of volunteers have been focusing their efforts on the issue.

"The problem is that there are so many pockets that it seems almost overwhelming," she said. "Almost every community has a problem."

On Wednesday, National Feral Cat Day, a team of volunteers were at the apartment complex to begin humanely trapping the feral cats as part of a "trap-neuter-return" effort. Once trapped, the cats will be taken to Timberlake Litter Control to be neutered, which McKinney said is the only way to begin stemming the issue of feral cat colonies.

Due to their lack of socialization with humans, feral cats are deemed unadoptable and are often put down when brought to shelters in an effort to curb the growing population.

"The common mentality is to capture and kill these cats," she said. "But that is wrong. In fact, it just creates a bigger problem."

Killing feral cats increases the problem in two ways: the surviving cats continue to breed and repopulate the community, and other feral cats will come into the area and claim it as their own.

National Feral Cat Day was created in 2001 by Alley Cat Allies, an organization that advocates for the use of trap-neuter-return methods, and groups around the nation are participating - including Timberlake Litter Control.

Today, and again on Oct. 24, the Spirit Lake-based clinic will spay cats for $25 in order to "help people build a safe community for free-roaming cats in the greater Coeur d'Alene area." They traditionally charge $40 for spaying, and always charge $25 for neutering.

McKinney said she hopes response to the program is so great she has to expand it.

"I hope to run it every day for the next week," McKinney said.