Respondent Demographics

• Ninety-five per cent of respondents were either a home owner or tenant.

Cat ownership

• Fifty-seven per cent of respondents were cat owners, 42 per cent were not cat owners, and 1 per cent preferred not to say.
• Ninety-five per cent of cat owners had their cats microchipped.
• Seventy-nine per cent registered their cats on Dogs and Cats Online.
• Almost 87 per cent contained their cats to their property at night, and almost 74 per cent contained their cat during the day.

Unwanted cats coming on to your property

• Almost 50 percent of respondents reported unwanted cats coming on to their property frequently, with a further 23 per cent reporting this problem occasionally.
• The most frequently reported issues from unwanted cats were preying on native animals and spraying/urinating.

Containment of owned cats

• Eighty per cent of respondents supported or strongly supported cat containment at night, for example between 8pm and 7am (93 per cent of non-cat owners and 71 per cent of cat owners). Some respondents suggested ending the curfew at 6am and others wanted consideration of shift workers.
• Seventy-two per cent of respondents supported or strongly supported cat containment at all times (93 per cent of non-cat owners and 57 per cent of cat owners).
• Seventy-two per cent of respondents supported or strongly supported cat containment of all cats, regardless of when they were born (95 per cent of non-cat owners and 56 per cent of cat owners).
• Seventy-two percent of respondents supported or strongly supported the introduction of expiation fees for owners of cats found roaming if a containment law was in place (95 per cent of non-cat owners and 56 per cent of cat owners).

Limits on cat ownership

• Sixty-nine per cent of respondents supported or strongly supported a potential by-law to introduce a limit on the number of cats a cat owner can keep on their property (91 per cent of non-cat owners and 53 per cent of cat owners).
• Non-cat owners were most supportive of a limit of two cats ( 55 per cent) or one cat (20 per cent).
• Cat owners were equally supportive of a limit of two (25 per cent), three (24 per cent) or four cats (24 per cent)

Registration for cats

• Fifty-six per cent of respondents agreed a yearly registration fee should be introduced for cats (95 per cent of non-cat owners and 28 per cent of cat owners).
• Seventy per cent of those agreed the fee should be the same as dog registration fees.

Roles for council

• Seventy-three per cent of respondents believe the council has a role in continuing ongoing education campaigns (68 per cent of non-cat owners and 77 percent of cat owners).
• Sixty-four per cent believe the council has a role in continuing to advocate for a statewide approach to cat management (77 per cent of non-cat owners and 56 per cent of cat owners).
• Fifty-eight per cent believe the council has a role in introducing a cat by-law (85 per cent of non-cat owners and 39 per cent of cat owners).

Effective enforcement of cat controls

A broad range of comments were received in this section of the survey covering themes including containment of owned cats, limits on cats, registration fees, regulation and education, feral cats, desexing and innovative ideas for cat management.

The most frequently stated comments included:

• laws for cats should be the same as for dogs
• control of feral cats is needed
• cat desexing should be made free or discounted
• if containment legislation was introduced, warnings should be given first, then fines for repeat offences
• incentives or subsidies should be offered to help owners contain cats such as outdoor enclosures, smart cat doors, fence rollers or tracking devices.