Speak up for Responsible Companion Cat Ownership

Cats are beloved members of our families and communities. Whilst many cat owners are responsible and desex their cats, we have too many companion cats that are allowed to breed and have unplanned litters of kittens. Often, these kittens experience sickness and death with many needing help from SPCA and other cat rescues. These kittens can also end up as stray cats and further contribute to the cycle of cat overpopulation in New Zealand. Cat overpopulation is a problem for cat welfare and causes problems for our neighbours and wildlife.

There is no ‘one solution’ for what is best for protecting cat welfare whilst reducing the negative impacts cats can have in our communities and wild places. Ensuring a companion cat is desexed and microchipped protects the individual cat’s welfare and helps address the problems of too many unplanned litters of kittens needing help each year or ending up as strays.

Since 2016, we have seen a steady increase in the number of local councils in New Zealand that have passed bylaws requiring companion cats to be desexed. We have also seen a steady increase in the number of local councils requiring cats to be microchipped and their microchip registered on the New Zealand Companion Animal Register. These bylaws promote more responsible cat ownership and hold cat owners more accountable for the negative impacts their cats can have in communities and on wildlife.

Achieving national cat legislation takes time. A report from Parliament’s Environment Select Committee was released in August of 2023 that recommended parliament progress national cat legislation based on desexing, microchipping, and the registering of cats.

Whilst we await Parliament’s response to this report, we have been working hard to advocate for local councils to promote responsible cat ownership through bylaws.

Sending a submission for your local council’s bylaw consultation process is a way to let them know you care about responsible cat ownership. Let them know you want to see requirements for cats to be desexed and microchipped by four months of age, and the cat’s microchip registered on the New Zealand Companion Animal Register.

If your local council is not currently reviewing their bylaws related to animals, then let them know you think they should! You can create a petition, write a letter, or speak with your Councillors and let them know why responsible cat ownership matters to you. You can encourage your local council to survey people’s views on cats. A survey can be valuable in helping your local council better understand how important this topic is in your community.

Tips:

• Check your local council’s website for when they plan a public consultation to review their bylaws for animals. Some bylaws are called ‘Keeping of Animals’, or ‘Animals’, or are consolidated under a general bylaw.
• Your local council’s website may let you sign up for alerts or a newsletter that will email you information about the bylaw or other upcoming consultations.
• You can always contact your local council for assistance.

Speak from your experience and express why responsible cat ownership is important to you. Be aware that local bylaws are not intended to address the impacts of cats on native wildlife. We know this matters to many New Zealanders, but it is important to focus on the other benefits of responsible cat ownership such as reducing nuisance in communities.

More responsible cat ownership can address multiple positive outcomes for local communities:

• Welfare benefits from desexing companion cats (and from microchipping and registering the microchip on the New Zealand Companion Register).
• Reduction in nuisance from cats including spraying and toileting in gardens, fighting with other cats, and reducing the number of unplanned litters of kittens that go on to live as stray cats in communities.
• Fewer unowned cats can lead to less impact of cat predation on native wildlife and less risk of diseases that harm wildlife and people such as toxoplasmosis.

Feel free to include SPCA’s views in your submission. Here at SPCA, we have clear positions on topics that feed into discussions about cat population management. For example:

• Feral cats
• Stray cats
• Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR)
• Pest control
• Keeping cats safe at home
• Mandatory desexing
• National cat legislation

If you have written a submission or taken a survey for a public consultation for a local bylaw, you can let them know if you want to attend the hearing and speak on behalf of your submission. Attending hearings can be a positive way to discuss your views and answer questions that Councillors may have.

SPCA thinks it is important to have productive discussions about responsible cat ownership in New Zealand. For further reading, please see our Advocacy webpage for Mandatory Desexing of Cats for further reading.