Taking cats!!
 

Hi

We're planning to take our two cats to Oz, but are worried that they may not be very welcome there. This info came from checking out a few local council websites and seeing advice such as 'waterbomb/hose your cats if they try to chase wildlife' etc.. and there also appear to be restrictions about them venturing onto neighbouring properties/public land.

Our two are quite calm and do not even venture out much and chasing wildlife would be far too undignified and too much effort for them!! But all the same it has got us a bit worried.

Has anyone had experience of taking their cats and have they been badly treated in any way?

Would be glad of any advice.

Dawn & Steve

Re: Taking cats!!
 

My cousin was more than a little critical of cats and their liking for local wildlife. I believe (have heard) that their are curfews for cats in some places. It's a shame that you can't have local species, I want a wombat :)

Re: Taking cats!!
 

In some neighbourhoods mainly new rural estates in Perth, cats are positively banned, won't let you buy a house there if you have cats.
i.e. Chestnuts in Jarrahdale.

Re: Taking cats!!
 

Hi,

My Aunt in the Brisbane area had a cat, no worries at all. The cat stayed out at night & had a good long life. RIP Tibbles. (of old age). Dont give it a second thought, we are bringing two with us.

Phil.

Re: Taking cats!!
 

Hi,
Do a search in this forum on the word cats, or cat, or, and pets, there are heaps of posts about this. Here is one which I replied to ages ago . I brought my two cats into Aus 6 years ago now and have had no problems regarding laws, or people bar one minor argument with a neighbour ages ago .http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...highlight=cats

Regarding curfews - there are some places which have them, I am not too sure what town, or towns have this, but I think it maybe in Victoria somewhere. There are calls for other councils in Aus to have this law but little few have introduced this law . A curfew basically means your cats must stay indoors between the hours of darkness, if you've got any sense you'll do that anyway - keep them indoors at night ( safer for the cat, and safe for wildlife too of course) . I've never heard of anywhere in Australia where you are not allowed to own cats. I've lived in two states in Aus - NSW and QLD under 3 different local councils/areas - none of these have got a curfew law. My local council here just has a law on the number of animals you can own (two of each - cat or dog, or both, if you want more you have to apply to the council for a special license) . laws for cats is basically the same as it is for dogs in theory - ie kept on your own property (garden etc) - I said in theory, because nobody where I live takes a blind bit of notice of this law when it comes to cats - they wander just like in the UK.
My cats have never had much trouble here - only once about 5 and a half years ago, my then neighbour in Newcastle hated cats, and threatened to shoot my cats - he didn't say it to my face, just said it loud enough so I could hear him over the fence - coward! - so I just said loud enough so he could hear me "if that old g*t next door lays one hand on my cats he'll be wiping himself off the floor" - and that is the only trouble I have ever had in Aus in 6 years regarding how they are treated, The neighbour just kept to himself after that, and did not carry out his empty threat.I do not let my cats run that much, and they are always kept in at night.

Anyway if you just search within this forum, there are quite a few threads on this subject about cats, (and dogs)


cheers:)

Mike Peters brought his wifes 2 cats over last year when they emigrated and the cats have settled in ok but lost a lot of condition in quarantine.

Personally I loathe cats - I would rather have the native wildlife in my garden than a bloomin' cat.

Some places do have restrictions on them and tighter cat laws are talked about all the time in the media. It depends on the local council and various State governments policies.

our moggy is a real hunter and we feel he wouldnt like the restrictions placed on him in Melbourne. therefore we are leaving him here. Our british Blue is a stay at home puss and we will be taking him

we have based our decisions on whether the cat would settle in aus or not. Especially as some areas insist on cat runs for the night.

Cheers
BooBoo

A friend of ours who lives in Adelaide has told us that cats are looked upon as vermin. Not a problem to us as we don`t have cats but we can see the problem of those that do have cats.

footie chick

Thanks to everyone who replied, your advice is very much appreciated. And Ceri, your posts did give us a laugh!

Thanks again
Dawn & Steve

You can have both. I used to feed the possums on my balcony with bananas (last house I rented) and the bandicoots with bird seed down below in the garden at night, both are nocturnal, my cats are kept in at night.
My cat used to peer out the window at the possums, one of the possums who we named "Nick" (because he had a little nick taken out of his ear, and he kept "nicking" my strawberries I was trying to grow - plus he actually ate my chillies which I had in a pot too! ) used to come up to the glass door looking for one of my cats (my other cat was scared of possums) .They used to sit and watch each other through the glass - aww friends :) - funny relationship
.
I have also taken in a young frog mouth owl, because it fell out of the tree and I was worried about the neighbours cat getting it - took it to the RSPCA centre, and have taken two injured Possums to vets (road victims - not cat attack) .
As for Birds - my cats have never killed one, in fact the birds here actually pick on my cats, those cheeky starlings will dive at my cats, and mouth off at them. Anyway being a nature lover myself - you can have both. The house I'm building- because it backs onto a reserve which does house a koala population, I have already decided I will be building a cat run for my cats, even though cats can not kill a large koala -(dogs do though - actually dogs are responsible for quite a few things too). I don't want them going into the bush, besides the "cute" wildlife there are snakes there too.

Anyway you can have both, wildlife and a cat. Personally I find people who put grass in their garden more destructive, totally un-environmental - have a nice bush/native garden. (I had to slip the "grass" thing in - bl**dy lawn mowers! :D )

cheers:)

We didnt want our two siamese destroying the local wildlife so we bought a large mesh enclosure from a firm called CATMAX, so if there not in the house they're out in the enclosure, keeps them happy, us happy and the wildlife safe.

Chris.

:cool:

Chris - don't mind me asking but how much did that cost? I've heard of the firm. Do they have a showroom? I was thinking of making my own because of the expense, I have a link for catnip ones http://www.catnip.com.au/catalogue.htm- and they seem very expensive. Is your enclosure attached to the house? Why I'm asking this is because one of my cats is a bit of a "nutter" :) , no seriously he is - I can't pick him up , he has to come to me, he's ten year old - but still a nutter, I swear he's a bit simple (he was a ex stray/abused cat from Sing). so picking him up and taking him to the enclosure is out for me, I was thinking of actually doing something like enclosing the patio area with a fine mesh - two birds killed with one stone, I can then sit out there myself on the patio in the night without getting bitten by Mozzies. Or maybe a run leading from one of the windows/doors - I haven't made my mind up yet on this, just know I will be definitely making some sort of enclosure, but I want it non- ugly looking if you know what I mean. Anyway, how much was yours and what are we taking about here - attached to the house? How big?

Thanks:)

Cat Enclosure.
 

Hi Ceri,

We bought our enclosure from a company called Catmax, they're in Bris, I'll give you the address at the end. It cost $1285.00 that includes the framework, the black mesh, and a arial walkway with stairs. its about 14 feet long by about 4 feet wide and about
5&1/2 feet high.
Its free standing and can be moved anywhere in the yard. I know they will sell the mesh on it own, I'm not sure if they can work off your own design. There leaflet has a picture of a yard entirely enclosed. Give them a call they're very friendly and I'm will help if they can.

www.catmax.com.au
14 Oriana Crescent, Yeronga. Qld 4104. 1300 306 605.

Good luck.

Chris.

:cool:

Re: Cat Enclosure.
 

Thanks for that, still seems a bit steep though. I'm sure you could make something yourself. I'm leaning towards covering the patio area with something unobtrusive I think. Sort of making it a come sun/BBQ room - come cat run room.

thanks :)

I've heard rumours of a grant from the (federal?) government for returning land to it's native (bush) state. Anyone heard anything about this. I'd like to buy a bigger plot of land as a buffer with nighbours and a grant to maintain it as bush would be very interesting.