Frisky feral felines are roaming our city streets, and we have only ourselves to blame, says the B.C. SPCA.

It's impossible to know just how many homeless cats there really are, but Nadine Gourkow with the SPCA guesses there could be hundreds of thousands in B.C. alone. And most of these - 80 per cent - are there because they were abandoned by flighty owners.

"People need to understand [cats] can't fend for themselves, they go through horrible things," Gourkow told 24 hours yesterday, adding that the worst culprits might be college students.

"Most colleges and universities have feral cat colonies," Gourkow said. "We suspect it's because students on campuses get kittens when they're there and when they graduate they'll just let them go."

The best solution to the problem - other than not abandoning your cat - is to ensure household cats are spayed or neutered, Gourkow said.