A Domestic Animal Management Plan guides a council’s management of dogs and cats, outlining key issues and objectives as well as actions and programs which a council will undertake.

Every Victorian council is required to prepare a Domestic Animal Management Plan at four-yearly intervals, as required by the Domestic Animals Act 1994 (Section 68A). It’s also required that councils review the plan annually, provide the State Government with a copy of the plan and any amendments and publish an evaluation of its implementation of the plan in its annual report.

The DAMP focuses solely on cats and dogs and will set priorities, actions and programs around things like:

• promotion and encouragement of responsible ownership of cats and dogs.
• ensuring that people comply with this Act, the regulations and any related legislation.
• minimising the risk of attacks by dogs on people and animals.
• addressing any over-population and high euthanasia rates for dogs and cats.
• encouraging the registration and identification of dogs and cats.
• minimising the potential for dogs and cats to create a nuisance.
• effectively identifying all dangerous dogs, menacing dogs and restricted breed dogs in that district and ensuring that those dogs are kept in compliance with this Act and the regulations.

We asked you for your views whether you’re a pet owner or not. It is important that we hear from the broader community so we can provide effective services. We encouraged you to read the discussion paper (MS Word 55.4 KB) and provide your feedback on what you feel our priorities, actions and programs should be over the next few years.

The DAMP focuses on the management and promotion of responsible ownership of dogs and cats only. While other matters, such as the keeping of livestock such as ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs and the management of wildlife may be mentioned in the DAMP, these fall under Local Laws or other regulations.

In mid-2024, we engaged with the community on cat management – as responsible pet ownership is important to protect pets, the community and the environment. The feedback collected aimed to help us decide whether we should introduce mandatory desexing and cat confinement to ensure the ongoing safety and wellbeing of all cats.

We heard that:

• The majority of the community was supportive of cat containment measures such as night-time curfews (85 per cent support) and prohibitions in environmentally sensitive areas (81 per cent support).
• 84 per cent of respondents supported mandatory desexing of cats – noting that over 97 per cent of registered cat owners have already desexed their cats.

Given these strong levels of support – at the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on 1 April 2025, Council resolved to make municipal orders to require all cats to be:

• contained to their property between the hours of 6pm and 8am
• desexed (some exemptions will apply)
• prohibited from waterways, riverine environments and certain major parks and gardens, unless under effective control by means of a purpose-built carrier, or harness and leash, and in the presence of their owner at all times.

These orders will come into effect from 1 October 2025 and be reviewed in mid-2026.

As part of our engagement on the DAMP – while we welcomed any feedback you may have about your experience with cats in the City of Melbourne, we are not directly seeking feedback on the cat management measures listed above, as these have already been consulted on and endorsed by Council.

To find out more, visit our cat management engagement.

Whether you’re a pet owner or not, the DAMP focuses on priorities that relate to animal management matters which may impact you as a resident or as someone who visits or works in the City of Melbourne. Things that the DAMP covers which may be of interest to you are; the management of dogs in public spaces, minimising the potential for dogs and cats to create a nuisance (barking dogs, trespassing cats) and minimising the risk of dog attacks on people and other animals. We need feedback from a variety of people in order for the DAMP to be robust and meet our community’s needs.

You can find information on a range of topics, including how to register your pet and the location of off-leash dog areas in the City of Melbourne, on our website.