A cat jumped away as I entered the kitchen. She had just stolen our food off the table, for at least the fourth time in the space of a few months. Something really must be done about all the stray cats in our neighborhood.

A few weeks later I heard that a neighbor had caught all the cats and disposed of them far from where we live. I remember thinking to myself that we were not solving the problem, but just moving it elsewhere. And the worst part is, a month later, our complex was already full of other stray cats.

Most strays are the result of lost unsterilized pets, or ones that were abandoned by their owners; of course they keep breeding on the streets.

'€œWhile a female dog can end up giving birth to 20 puppies in a year, cats have three to four kittens every three months, and each kitten will be ready to have its own kittens at 16 weeks of age. That'€™s around 50 additional cats a year '€” imagine the snowball effect. It'€™s scary,'€ said Dr. Susana Somali, the founder of Pejaten Shelter, which currently has around 500 dogs and 50 cats on its premises.

Many pet owners don'€™t spay and neuter their pets for different reasons, mostly whether for the cost, or because they feel sorry for depriving their pets of sex, or simply because they don'€™t feel it'€™s necessary.

Cost should no longer be an excuse, since in Jakarta alone there are several groups that arrange subsidized sterilizations for pets at a very affordable price. Animal lovers, volunteers and vets collaborate to provide this service for the community every month in different locations in Jakarta. To name a few, there is Steril Yuk, Pro Steril and Rumah Steril (rumahsteril.org).

Instead of feeling sorry for their pets, pet owners should know that by spaying and neutering their companion animals, they are sparing them health issues such as prostate cancer for males and ovarian cancer for females, not to mention that sterilized pets are much more manageable during mating season, so they won'€™t try to run away to mate and end up getting lost or hit by vehicles.

There are many animal lovers who also get the strays in their areas spayed/neutered at their own expense, to help reduce the numbers. Globally, it is an accepted fact that spaying and neutering is the only way to reduce and control stray populations.

'€œSpaying and neutering is the key to the stray issue, it'€™s the first and main responsibility from a pet owner,'€ said Dr. Lily from Pondok Pengayom Satwa in Ragunan, South Jakarta.

Without an understanding of the importance of spaying and neutering among pet owners, the stray issue will be a never-ending and ever-worsening problem, as the numbers grow at a very fast pace. Strays need greater awareness and action from us all, but especially from pet owners, who can nip the problem in the bud, as it were.

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