Dealing with an Unwanted Cat on Your Property

 Cat owners are required to make sure their pet does not wander onto other people’s property without permission. It is an offence under the City of Red Deer Cat Bylaw for a cat to run at large off the owners property.

If you have an unwanted cat on your property, politely ask your neighbour to keep their cat on their own property. If you do not know who the owner is or if speaking with your neighbour did not solve the problem, you may want to make your property less inviting to the animal or file a formal complaint with Animal Services.

Making Your Property Less Inviting

Cats can be trained not to enter your yard simply by making your property unpleasant.

Place mesh netting (angled outwards) or PVC pipe at the top of your fence to prevent cats from climbing over.

Spray the cat with water whenever it enters your yard.

Place chicken wire just below the surface of your flower beds/garden area to discourage digging and/or cover the bed with bark chips or gravel so it is rough.

Spread repellents around your property, like vinegar or orange peels.

Cat Trapping

Animal Service Officers do not patrol to capture stray and at-large cats unless it is a public safety concern, but we do rent humane traps to residents between May 1 and October 31 (weather dependent). Animal Services Officers will deliver traps and pick up cats trapped in a City owned trap.

If you need to rent a City trap, please call 403-347-2388 to book. Rentals will be aligned with a cat intake appointment. A refundable deposit for each trap is required and a trapping agreement filled out by the citizen when renting a trap.

It is illegal to put an animal in distress, so you will need to check the trap frequently and will have to provide food, water and shelter for the trapped cat until it is picked up by the Animal Services Officer. The cat must also not be injured by the method you use to trap and transport it.  Private/Personal traps used are not accepted at Animal Services.

Filing a Complaint

If you found a stray cat in the City of Red Deer please contact our dispatch at 403-347-2388 to file a report.  Once dispatch has confirmed the details of the case they will then create an intake appointment for you to bring the cat into our kennel facility.

If you do want to file a complaint against the residence where the cat resides, you need to fill out a witness statement form detailing the date/time animal was observed at large, description of the cat (s), and identify how you know where the cat resides. If the owner contests the fine, you will be required to appear in court to testify and the owner will obtain disclosure on who witnessed the complaint.

You do not need to trap a cat on your property to file a complaint, you just have to see the cat, be able to identify it, be able to indicate the address of which it lives and fill out the statement form.