SOUTHINGTON - In the unusually warm weather this week, One-Ear perched himself along the bulkhead of Building 26 at the Summer Brook apartments complex on Darling Street, looking for potential food and water while watching for predators.

One-Ear, a feral black cat named by local residents, has lived on the grounds around the northeast corner of Summer Brook for more than five years.

He is one of five known feral cats that live at the complex, and their presence has created tension between facility management and tenants.

Feral cat colonies are a growing problem in areas with state-defined low-income housing, experts say. Places such as Summer Brook and the Meadows, a neighboring condominium complex on Darling Street, have put rules in place to prevent attracting such colonies, but have not been successful.

"They tell us not to feed the cats, but I can't sit back and do nothing," Summer Brook resident Bea Votrino said. "They have no owner, they have no shelter. This is the only life they know."

At the Meadows, condo association President Michael Zimmer has said residents are fined $25 per day for feeding cats, because they attract wild animals. Residents are allowed one pet cat per apartment.

Summer Brook residents are also restricted from feeding cats, and some say they have been approached several times by management and even threatened with eviction.

And these complexes are not alone.

"Theses colonies are everywhere, and Southington is no exception," said cat rescuer Diane Pricone-Recardo, a former Southington resident who said she has worked with more than 100 feral cats.

Large housing complexes, especially those in low-income areas, attract colonies for several reasons, according to Pricone-Recardo, Marlena DiBianco of the Meriden Humane Society and Lori Ratchelous of Friends of Cheshire Feral Cats.

They say many cats become strays because their families cannot afford to take care of them or leave them behind because they cannot bring them when they move. As these cats adjust to the wild, they pair with other cats and animal families.

It takes only a few abandoned domestic pets to form a colony, but the real mistake humans make is not trying to care for them, said DiBianco, a rescuer who said she helped trap and treat more than 60 cats from August to November.

"If more places were cooperative, people could really help these animals out at a low cost and eventually colonies would die out," DiBianco said.

"When you leave them be, they can be unhealthy, but they will keep multiplying."

At Friends of Cheshire Feral Cats, Ratchelous and other volunteers follow a program called TNR - trap, neuter and release - to help address reproduction.

The cats can easily be trapped and treated for medical problems, she said, and spayed or neutered to prevent reproduction, then released back to their natural environment.

Such action is inexpensive, Ratchelous said. Ragged Mountain Clinic in Plainville will spay or neuter a feral cat for $50, and groups such as Friends of Cheshire Feral Cats are willing to assist in many cases.

Most associations don't make that effort, however, which leads to dramatic increases in population. Of the cats DiBianco trapped from August to November, more than 75 percent were female.

The average litter is about five healthy cats, she said, so colonies can grow at exponential rates.

DiBianco said housing complexes should embrace the cats' presence and ask a resident to take care of the animals, something that would require about 10 minutes a day and can prevent the spread of diseases in unhealthy feral colonies.

This unhealthy living can be seen in the Summer Brook colony, where One-Ear has suffered from ear mites for a half-decade and has had swollen eyes for almost a year.

Residents cannot take him to the vet for fear of consequences, resident Bea Votrice said, and his condition could spread to surrounding animals.

The ear mites were diagnosed when One-Ear was taken to be neutered, Votrice said.

"It's not only healthier for the cats, but everything else," Votrice said. "By monitoring these cats, you can also see which ones could be rehabilitated and given a good home."

Monitoring the cats also allows the colonies to die out because it allows any new cats to immediately be identified and treated, which prevents colony growth, Ratchelous said.

It also helps identify diseases and allows individuals to help seek treatment for the animals.

Ratchelous said another way to fight colony growth may be to look toward stricter regulation of ownership. These types of ordinances make it harder for owners to "dump" their pets, she said.

Although almost all state municipalities have laws requiring licensing for dogs, only Manchester has enacted similar policies for cats.

Such responses help address the colony problems, require minimum effort and don't harm the animals, DiBianco said.

"Everybody sees these cats as a tremendous problem, but they aren't," she said. "If we could find more people to help, it wouldn't be an issue."