Cats

Although cats are often seen as independent animals, the Council encourages all cat owners to have good knowledge and/or take professional advice to ensure that they are responsible pet owners.

The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes owners and keepers of animals responsible for ensuring that the welfare needs of their animals are met.

These include the need:

• For a suitable environment (place to live)
• For a suitable diet
• To exhibit normal behaviour patterns
• To be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable)
• To be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease.

The Council would also encourage cat owners to make sure that there is a means of identifying their cat (e.g micro-chipping), consideration to neutering their pet to prevent unwanted pregnancies, regular health checks, including vaccinations, where required and the safe and hygienic disposal of all animal waste.

Cat owners should also familiarize themselves with the codes of practice for the welfare of cats (see related links below).

Unfortunately as cats can be so independent, they sometimes go missing. If you think that you have lost your cat, you can report it missing to the RSPCA and the local Cats Protection, whose details can be found in related links below.

When a dead cat is reported to the Council, it is collected by one of our street cleansing teams. The cat is checked to see if it has a collar with owner details on it and scanned to see if it is micro chipped, so that the owner can be informed if possible. Where we are unable to trace an owner details are passed onto the local Cats Protection and RSPCA branches to be recorded in their lost and found cat records. The cat will then be stored by a local Veterinary Surgery for 7 days in case the owner is found and wishes to claim the animal.