It's a growing problem across the country, but it's already overtaking Jefferson County. Stray and unwanted cats are everywhere and it seems nothing can be done about it. Our Brian Dwyer has more on the exploding cat population and why the local SPCA, for the time being, can no longer take them in.

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"They kicked me out of here and used my area for cat pens." Jefferson County SPCA Executive Director Linda Miles said about her desk. "They've even used a lower part of the house now for cats and offices and things."

"We're supposed to have about 60 cats and kittens. Now we're probably up to 100. We're starting to see kittens grow up here. We've never seen that before." Laurie Jackson of the SPCA added.

Cat overpopulation is a problem all across the country, but some say Jefferson County takes the cake.

"In our particular area, with the added summer people, Fort Drum military base and the prison, it's even more a problem," Miles said.

Things have gotten so bad the SPCA has to tell people that for the time being, they can no longer take in stray or unwanted cats.

"We turned away 34 people just on Friday alone with stray cats," Jackson said.

"People are getting very angry with us," Miles added. "When you have 34 'I'm sorry I can't help you today,' people get very upset."

Some say part of the problem is in mindset. People don't see stray cats in the same light as a stray dog. They aren't viewed as dangerous. And when a stray cat hangs around a house, the danger thoughts aren't there and people tend to feed them. It may seem like the right thing to do, but experts say it just compounds the problem, by making the cats strong enough again to reproduce.

"It does get healthier and it starts reproducing," local veterinarian Dr. Sandy Young said. "You have two cats that have offspring and you have a litter of four or five kittens and then those kittens reproduce and everyone keeps reproducing over the years. By the second year you've got 66 cats. By the fifth year you've got 13,000 cats. By the ninth year, you've got almost 14,000,000 cats."

And that's when you get homes overtaken by feral cats, untamed cats with "wild" temperaments. The cats pile up and so does the feces and disease. And it all happens within a normal everyday neighborhood.

"Besides rabies, we have to worry about other parasites they may carry that can be passed on to people, like ground worms," Dr. Young added. "If you have an open sand box, they think it's a big kitty litter box and they may use that and it becomes a risk that kids will get exposed."

Coming up on Wednesday, we'll have more on what people can do if they come across a stray, why animal control doesn't deal with cats at all and what the SPCA is hoping gets done soon to help the problem.