Australia has welcomed about 1.5 million extra pet cats since COVID. They were perfect isolation companions: independent, affectionate, low-maintenance. While those additions to households may sound heartwarming, a few years later, looking a little closer – as a veterinarian, lifelong cat carer, and representative of Animal Care Australia – what I’m seeing isn’t so comforting.
Alongside the surge in ownership is a rise in stray and anxious cats, and those unsettled by post-pandemic changes at home. Their anxiety, depression or behaviour shifts are often dismissed, but the increase is obvious in clinics and communities.
Most owners want to do the right thing, but confusing behaviour is often misread. Some cats are surrendered; others are left to roam in the hope they “settle down”. And this has led to more unregistered, not-desexed and anxious cats roaming across Sydney and the east coast.
It has evolved into a significant welfare challenge. During lockdowns, cats filled an emotional gap. Now, their owners’ longer work hours and time away have returned. For animals, that change can be overwhelming. I see it every week in the clinic. A cat that hides under the bed, stops eating, or lashes out is rarely “just being a cat”. These are early signs of emotional distress, anxiety or depression.
While roaming pet cats do hunt, the bigger ecological impact comes from feral cats, not owned pets. Estimates often combine the two groups, which inflates the numbers and can blur the real welfare issue behind roaming behaviour.
In Greater Sydney, roaming pet cats are estimated to kill about 66 million native animals each year, although this figure is debated because many calculations assume all pet cats roam and hunt, which is not the case. National kill estimates in the billions refer primarily to feral, free-living cats rather than household pets.
Before it’s an environmental issue, it’s a welfare one. Roaming cats are usually distressed cats, and every stray reflects a broken connection between human stress and animal wellbeing.
Rescue and foster networks across NSW are full. Shelters are taking in surrendered pandemic pets and litters from roaming cats that are not desexed. Councils are stretched, and vets are managing the medical and behaviour cases that leave many families feeling they have failed their animals.
A recent NSW Legislative Council inquiry into cat management recognised overpopulation as “clear and pressing” yet stopped short of recommending containment laws. Welfare groups, vets and local governments called this a missed opportunity, and I agree.
We already know humane solutions make a real difference. Across 11 NSW councils, desexing more than 2700 cats and microchipping 1700 reduced roaming populations by half and lowered complaints by 40 per cent. These programs work because they involve targeted, on-the-ground support, rather than assumptions about how all cats behave. Where education and affordable desexing are available, cats and communities do better.
The emotional connection between humans and their pets is a two-way street and can be underestimated; cats read the room far more deeply than most people realise. Feline depression shows up quietly in the cats that stop grooming, hide more, withdraw from affection or simply fade into the background. Cats mirror the emotional landscape, and now life looks different. Burnout, financial strain and long work hours all affect the way we care for animals who rely on routine and predictability.
If we treated feline mental health as a legitimate welfare concern instead of a quirky footnote, we could prevent many of the behavioural problems that lead to surrender or abandonment.
This crisis is not unsolvable, but we can’t adopt our way out of it. It requires co-ordination between government, vets, councils and communities – a unified, evidence-based approach that tackles both welfare and environmental impacts. Some steps are simple: keep cats indoors or in enclosed outdoor spaces; provide enrichment, play and predictability; desex early; build routines that work for people and pets; seek help when behaviour changes.
The care gap widened during the pandemic and has not been properly addressed since. Containment laws work overseas. Large-scale desexing campaigns work here. What’s missing is political will.
Those 1.5 million extra cats were meant to be companions. They still can be.
Dr Tanya Phillips is a veterinarian on Sydney’s north shore.
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