A 24 hour cat curfew means cats are not allowed outside of your property and are secured to your property at all times.

Yes, as long as you have effective control in a securely fitting harness or the cat is in a carrier

Council has introduced a 24 hour cat confinement to help protect your cats’ welfare. The decision was guided by feedback provided at our recent Domestic Animal Management Plan consultation, community consultation, reports about nuisance cats, reports of environmental impacts of cats in parks and reserves and reports of attacks on wildlife.

If residents have issues with cats trespassing, the resident can request a cat trap from the Council. If a cat is caught then enforcement action can be taken against the cat owner.

Cat owners may be fined as part of any cat curfew if their cat is caught off their property. Officers will educate cat owners for a period of time as part of the introduction of the curfew.

If officers contain any cats during curfew then the cats will either be returned to the owners or taken to the Epping Animal Welfare Facility (EAWF). Once reclaimed, owners may face enforcement action as above and may be required to pay reclaim fees when collecting their cat from EAWF.

Our Animal Management Officers will make all reasonable attempts to reunite the cat with its owner by checking registration and microchip details. If we are unable to identify the owner, we take the cat to the Epping Animal Welfare Facility. If we are unable reunite a cat with its owners and it is taken to the EAWF there will be fees associated with its release. These will vary depending on whether the cat is registered, microchipped or desexed, and the length of time the cat has spent in the facility.

If we cannot identify your cat or get in touch with you, the cat will be taken to the Epping Animal Welfare Facility.

If you know the owner of the cat, we encourage you to speak with them first. If the issue cannot be resolved and you wish to make a formal complaint, please contact Animal Management Team on 9217 2170 or email Animal.Management@whittlesea.vic.gov.au

Before trapping, we encourage you to talk to the cat’s owner to discuss the issue. If this is not possible, or does not resolve the issue, you may trap a cat that wanders onto your property. The sale, setting and use of humane cat traps is regulated under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 and failure to properly use or monitor a trap may result in penalties. All other traps, including those with hook actioning mechanisms, must not be used and are prohibited. Once the cat is trapped, you may return it to the owner, contact the City of Whittlesea Animal Management Unit to collect it or take the cat to the Epping Animal Welfare Facility.

You should always have food and clean drinking water placed in the cat trap and should check the trap regularly throughout the day to see whether a cat has been trapped and needs to be collected.

Cat curfews will not deal with the “semi-owned” cat population, but it may assist with these cats if they are deemed a nuisance by property owners and are able to be contained via cat traps.

Our Animal Management Unit are working on other initiatives to address “semi-owned” cat issues, including educating people who feed but do not own cats and offering subsidised desexing to encourage people to take full ownership.

Resources will be available to assist in the transition to acclimatizing your cat to an indoor (or in an outdoor enclosure) lifestyle. Some simple methods include:

• Feed your cat indoors. Instead of letting your cat back outside as soon as they're finished eating, keep them inside for increasing periods of time.
• If you're starting your cat's retraining during the winter, a warm, dry bed to snuggle in may be just the ticket to convince them to stay inside.

More ideas can be found on the Safe Cat, Safe Wildlife website.

Yes, your cat is allowed outdoors, providing it remains on your property. Various forms of enclosures are available and we will have information resources available for people to assist them.

Enrichment activities such as cat towers, keeping plenty of cat toys for them to play with, taking your cat outside on a harness and leash. We will provide owners with other resources which will have more information about keeping your cat active.

It is often hard to tell the difference between a pet, stray or feral cat, as some pet cats will display different behaviours depending on their characteristics. Quite often stray and feral cats will disappear around people, unless they have built up trust with people. Cats are always given time to settle if taken to a shelter.

It’s important that pet cats are microchipped and registered so we can distinguish them from unowned cats.

Yes, as catching an uncontained cat is incredibly difficult. If a cat is able to be contained without the use of a trap then officers will collect it, otherwise a trap will be provided, and officers will collect any cats caught in council traps.

Generally cats will only be collected from private residences. In some circumstances Council officers will assist with the collection of cats on council property (parks), however this will be done under supervision.

Council officers will collect any contained cats from properties, however cats can also be taken to the Epping Animal Welfare Facility (ensuring the cat is transported in a safe way).

Contact your local council or check online to see if your cat has been taken to the Epping Animal Welfare Facility

It’s important that cats are trapped only in approved traps issued by Council or approved, humane traps. All instructions provided by Council or when purchasing your own trap must be followed to ensure the safety of the cat.

If a cat is kept active and given enrichment toys, then keeping your cat indoors will have little effect on its mental health. Some products are available if you cat has increased stress to being indoors.

Indoor cats are less susceptible to disease and injury.

If the cat is registered with Council we will reunite the cat with its owner. If a cat is unowned/stray/feral it will be transferred to the EAWF where it will undergo behavioural assessment to determine suitability for adoption.

Yes, it is legal for someone to trap a trespassing cat.

Council will provide a range of resources for cats, including information from Safe Cats, Safe Wildlife and other organisations.

At this stage council will provide resources for owners to find the easiest and most cost effective way to contain cats to their property, and this may include workshops, but at this stage Council will not be subsidising enclosures.

Several reports indicate that cats are natural predators to native wildlife, whether or not they are owned or stray/feral. Containing your cat to your property (especially at a young age) will lower its natural predation and will assist in the protection of local wildlife.

Almost half of Victorian councils have a cat curfew in place, with a mix of 24 hour curfews and sunset to sunrise curfews.

• The City of Darebin introduced a night-time cat curfew (from 7pm to 7am) on 1 Jan 2021
• Yarra Ranges has a 24/7 curfew
• Knox City Council 24-hour curfew came into effect on 10 April 2022.

Yes, all cats over the age of three months are required to be registered under state law. If your cat escapes your property then these fees will assist in returning you cat to you, and also assists in running the Epping Animal Facility, which cares for all cats that are brought into the facility, whether they are owned or not.

Registering your pets helps Council reunite you with them as we will be able to quickly trace them back to you.

At this stage no changes are being looked at in relation to registration fees, however we are looking at advocating to the state government for standard fees across all councils.

There is a transition period until 1 August 2023 where Council will be supporting residents to be ready to be compliant. Education and support will continue after introduction. When fines are issued they will start from $92 - other fees or fines may apply.

There are many health benefits of desexing your cat, as well as getting to the source of the overpopulation that we face in the City of Whittlesea.

Desexing your cat will help to address the overpopulation of cats within the City of Whittlesea and will also assist in nuisance complaints as desexed are less likely to roam.

Desexing involves the removal of reproductive organs.

Cat desexing starts from $150, but does vary according to sex, age and other factors

Council is offering a subsidised cat desexing program until June 2023. We will be applying for a grant from the State Government and considering funding options as part of our next budget to extend the program beyond this date

Council is offering a subsidised cat desexing program until June 2023. We will be applying for a grant from the State Government and considering funding options as part of our next budget to extend the program beyond this date

All enquiries and applications about mandatory desexing of newly registered cats and council subsidised desexing should be via email to animal.management@whittlesea.vic.gov.au

Some exemptions to the mandatory desexing rule apply. This includes cats that are owned by a registered breeder where the cat is used for breeding purposes.

If you are a registered breeder or a member of an applicable organisation you are exempt from mandatory desexing. If your cat is subject to a written medical advice from a vet that desexing would be harmful to its health.

The RSPCA recommends the desexing of cats at a young age (under 4 months) before they reach puberty.

No, reports suggest that the health benefits of early age desexing far outweigh any possible side effects of early age desexing.

Please seek advice from your veterinary practitioner if you have any concerns or questions about your cat.