536 Clinical Aust Vet J Vol 80, No 9, September 2002 EDITOR MAUREEN REVINGTON ADVISORY COMMITTEE ANAESTHESIA LEN CULLEN AVIAN MEDICINE AND SURGERY GARRY CROSS EQUINE MEDICINE AND SURGERY JOHN BOLTON LABORATORY ANIMAL MEDICINE MALCOLM FRANCE OPHTHALMOLOGY JEFF SMITH PATHOLOGY CLIVE HUXTABLE PHARMACOLOGY / THERAPEUTICS STEPHEN PAGE PRODUCTION ANIMAL MEDICINE JAKOB MALMO RADIOLOGY ROBERT NICOLL REPRODUCTION PHILIP THOMAS SMALL ANIMAL MEDICINE BRIAN FARROW DAVID WATSON SMALL ANIMAL SURGERY GEOFF ROBINS GERALDINE HUNT WILDLIFE / EXOTIC ANIMALS LARRY VOGELNEST EDITORIAL ASSISTANT AND DESKTOP PUBLISHING ANNA GALLO CONTRIBUTIONS INVITED Practising veterinarians and others are invited to contribute clinical articles to the Australian Veterinary Journal. We will consider material in a variety of formats, including clinically orientated reviews, reports of case series, individual case studies, diag- nostic exercises, and letters containing comments or queries. Practitioners are also invited to contribute to the case notes feature, where accepted articles are not peer reviewed but are edited for publication. Contributors should consult instructions to authors and recent issues of the journal for guidelines as to formatting. Over referencing should be avoided: authors should preferably quote only those articles they feel are most likely to be of interest and benefit to readers. Send all contributions to: Editor, AVJ Clinical Section AVA House, 272 Brunswick Road, Brunswick, Vic. 3056, Phone: (03) 9387 2982 Fax: (03) 9388 0112 Email: desktop@ava.com.au Australian VETERINARY JOURNAL C L I N I C A L S E C T I O N Attitudes of suburban Western Australians to proposed cat control legislation J GRAYSON a , M CALVER ac and I STYLES b Objective To determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of cat-owners and non-owners in suburban Perth, Western Australia, on issues relating to proposed local government regulation of cat-ownership. Design The 1261 respondents to a mailed survey were ranked on issues regarding restrictions on cat-ownership and cat roaming (control scale), attitudes to wildlife in suburbia and putative impacts of cats on wildlife (wildlife scale), knowledge of cat behaviour and husbandry (knowledge scale) and attitudes and practices regarding cat sterilisation (sterilisation scale). Age, gender and cat-ownership status of the survey respondents were explored to see if any of these factors influenced the position of respondents on the scales. Results Cat-owners, particularly female owners, scored significantly higher on the knowledge scale than non-owners, whilst non-owners scored significantly higher than cat-owners on the control and wildlife scales. Women were more likely to favour compulsory sterilisation of pet cats than men, but men were more willing to imple- ment controls on cat-ownership. Age was also a significant factor, with older people more willing to implement controls. Analysis of specific questions showed that both cat-owners and non-owners agreed that there was a need for cat control legislation and supported measures such as compulsory sterilisation, registering of cats, restricting cats’ ability to roam and stipulating a maximum number of cats per property. Nevertheless, both groups rejected the idea that local governments should enforce cat-free zones. Conclusion Cat legislation that avoids or educates about the contentious issue of cat-free zones should receive solid community support. Aust Vet J 2002;80:536-543 O wnership of domestic cats (Felis catus) confers health benefits such as decreasing the incidence of heart attack and stroke and lowering blood pres- sure. 1 Children benefit considerably from pet ownership as it teaches responsi- bility, respect and compassion. 2 Pet ownership also makes a substantial contribution to the domestic economy. In 1995 it was estimated that $2.2 billion was spent on pet care in Australia and over 30,000 people were employed in the pet food industry, veterinary services and manufacturers of associated pet products. 2 However, surveys of community attitudes show that other people’s roaming cats are a significant nuisance for both cat-owners and non-owners. 3-5 Furthermore, recent empirical studies have quantified the predation of owned cats on wildlife in large Australian cities, raising concerns that cat predation may be a threat to wildlife on suburban fringes and in remnant urban bushland. 6-9 While some cat enthusiasts 10,11 and others 12 are quick to defend domestic pet cats against such accusations, a more productive approach is to consider what aspects of cat husbandry could be regulated to minimise the problems, maintain or improve cat welfare and retain the established benefits of cat-ownership. For example, identification of pet cats, neutering of animals except those approved for breeding, and confining cats at night, will aid in returning lost or injured animals to owners and reduce the incidence of cat fights and injuries in traffic. T hese measures will also reduce the dumping of unwanted kittens, attacks by cats on nocturnal wildlife and disturbance of neighbours by cats prowling at night. T hese motivations underlie the cat control regulations either in place or under consid- eration in several areas in Australia. 13 Such approaches and the extent to which the cat- a School of Biological Sciences & Biotechnology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150 b School of Education, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150 c Correspondence to M C Calver - Email: calver@central.murdoch.edu.au