Community services and development manager Gavin Blinman said there had been a high request for cat traps across the region.

He said most of the complaints were about adult cats.

“The biggest issue for us is the stray cats,” he said.

“People take pity on the stray cats and feed them.”

“Then there is complaints there are stray cats hanging around and then more stray cats appear wanting to be fed too.”

Mr Blinman said shire residents needed to take a harder stance on the stray cats.

“People need to stop feeding these stray cats as they have a pretty bleak outlook,” he said.

“You're not doing the cats a favour by encouraging them like that.”

Mr Blinman said the issue was causing a financial burden on council.

“It's a costly issue for us each year with man hours, cat traps and going out there and trying to do something about it,” he said.

He said council hoped more residents would desex their cats to stem the problem.

Cr Ray Kingston said the issue was a concern for the native wildlife in the region.

“It’s so sad to see cat numbers up again,” he said.

“It’s such a big problem and a shame to put it into the too hard basket.”

Cr Terry Grange said he had noticed a lot of stray cats at Minyip.

“They're feral it's as simple as that,” he said.

“It's a real problem.”

Cr Grange said there was one clear solution.

“We need to have an extinction program for feral cats really,” he said.

Mr Blinman said there had not been as many complaints about stray dogs.

Cr Grange said rabbits were also a cause of concern across the shire.

Neighbouring municipality Horsham Rural City have run two cat desexing programs in recent years through animal welfare group Horsham People for Animal Welfare and Support.