Stray cat

Cats

Stray and Feral Cats

Council's Rangers remove between 500 to 900 stray cats per year from within our municipality. Around 75 per cent of these cats are feral or not owned.

One un-desexed, stray, female cat can produce as many as 60 offspring in 12 months. In spring, as the daylight hours increase, the breeding season begins, resulting in an increase in cats fighting over territory, food and mating. This can result in injuries and disease transmission not only to other unowned cats but also to resident's pet cats. It also results in hundreds of unwanted litters of kittens being born under houses, around factories, in outbuildings, in drains and bushes.

Hiring a cat trap

Council hires cat traps to residents of the City of Greater Dandenong only. These allow stray and ferals cats to be caught humanely. Please note that you can only trap a cat on your own property, or someone else's property with their consent.

The cat traps cannot be used for trapping possums. Possums are a protected species under the Wildlife Legislation and can only be caught by licensed operators. Council officers have no authority to remove wildlife.

Hiring conditions

Refundable deposit must be paid, see cost below.
The deposit is fully refundable when the trap is returned in good and clean condition.
Maximum hire period is 7 days.
The trap hire is only available for hire to residents within the City of Greater Dandenong
A cat trap can be hired from and returned to Springvale Community Hub Customer Service Centre
You must contact Customer Service first to check availability of traps.

Name	Standard fee	Description
Cat Trap Hire	$164.50	Please read the hiring conditions carefully.

cat lying down

Cats in Greater Dandenong are subject to a cat curfew.

Collection of the cat

To arrange collection of the cat, please follow these steps:

Only set the trap in the evening/night. Collection is once per day. If no cat is caught overnight, close trap during the day.
Add an empty container to fill with water from the outside once a cat is caught.
Once you have caught the cat, contact Customer Service on 8571 1000 between 8.30am - 4.30pm for collection.
No collections will be made after 12pm.
Cages must be covered with a towel or cloth to minimise the stress and prevent injury to the cat.
A Ranger will collect the cat and transfer it to another cage
If you are not going to be home when the cat is to be collected, leave the trap in a quiet shaded area, but accessible to the Ranger
You can then return the trap to Council or set it up again.

A cat trap must be returned to: Springvale Community Hub Customer Service Centre

Why feeding cats them makes things worse

Research has found that a major contributing factor to the cat overpopulation problem is people feeding unowned cats but not taking full ownership or responsibility for them.

Feeding unowned cats helps keep them strong enough to reproduce. They keep breeding more and more kittens into a life of injury, hunger, disease and neglect. This contributes to the tragic cat overpopulation problem in Australia.

People feed unowned cats because they genuinely care about them and feel sorry for them. However many people don't realise that they are causing a bigger problem by feeding, but not owning (desexing microchipping and registering) these cats.

If you are not willing to keep the cat and raise it as your pet then please don't feed it. Instead, phone Customer Service to arrange the hire of a humane cat trap.

More information on stray and feral cats

For more information on nuisance possums contact the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources on 136 186 or visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/