New Zealand has too many cats and now millions face extermination.

The country's top animal lovers - including Gareth Morgan's Morgan Foundation - have made that call and want the problem of strays and feral cats fixed in under a decade.

Leaked documents show a National Cat Management Strategy Group is devising a way to ensure responsible cat ownership, protect the environment and humanely manage the millions of cats around the country by 2025.

REBEKAH PARSONS-KING/Fairfax NZ Gillian Dray of Pencarrow Cattery says there should be limits on cat ownership.

The group includes heavy hitters across government and animal welfare sectors but the documents do not reveal if measures will include registration of cats, microchipping, limiting the number of cats per household, how much such measures are likely to cost or who is likely to pay.

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Local Government New Zealand was one of the organisations responsible for the work but time constraints meant president Lawrence Yule was unavailable for an interview.

MARK TAYLOR/FAIRFAX NZ Waikato SPCA executive officer Sara Elliott-Warren admits the stray cat problem is huge.

The Draft New Zealand Cat Management Strategy calls for a "legislative, regulatory and educative framework" to support the move.

The Waikato SPCA, whose parent body is part of the strategy group, agrees the problem is too big for one agency to deal with. Forest & Bird agrees.

"People are acknowledging all sides of the issue but the key thing being we need to start talking about having the promotion of responsible cat ownership," spokesman Kevin Hackwell said.

FAIRFAX NZ 14 million feral cats are the biggest threat to native species but only 50,000 are trapped each year and some returned after neutering.

"We have a very different attitude to dog ownership than we did 30 years ago and I see that we need to have, and we are developing a similar attitude to, responsible cat ownership."

The exact number of cats in New Zealand is unknown, but estimates show 1.4 million owned cats and 196,000 strays. Studies suggest there were 14 million feral cats around the country.

Feral cats are the biggest threat to native birds, lizards and insects. The group aims to eliminate stray and feral cats by 2025.

The group preferred that stray cats should be rehomed, but some lacked human socialisation and putting them down was an option. Trapping of feral cats, which already occurs in national parks and elsewhere, is also an option.

"There is no one solution for humane cat management and environmental protection," the NCMSG's strategic intent said. "Instead there are a range of possible solutions that are dependant on numerous factors."

Nationally, the SPCA takes in about 60,000 animals a year and Waikato SPCA executive officer Sara Elliott-Warren said "probably 93 per cent" are strays.

Almost half of New Zealand households have at least one cat and dealing with the stray cat problem is a community issue.

Objectives of the national cat strategy are that cats bring positive benefits and should be valued, but that cat numbers will be managed to protect native species and ecosystems, that the negative impacts of cats on the urban and rural landscape will be minimised and a legal framework will be put in place.

"As an organisation, we can't deal with it ourselves," Elliott-Warren said.

Developing legislation would be the hardest things to get right, she said. Under dog control laws, dogs are punished and she didn't want that for cats.

"No matter what, we are going to have to be really careful about what that looks like."

Research shows more than 80 per cent of owned cats are desexed, she said.

"We already know the good people are going to always be good just like with dogs.

"The good people are always going to register their dogs. It's the ratbags who don't."

Limiting the number of cats per household has been suggested a number of times, said Elliott-Warren and cattery owner and president of the Hamilton Cat Club Gillian Dray said it was a good idea.

"There should be a limit on how many cats people have but people should have their cats desexed unless they are registered breeders and the cats are contained." said Dray.

All of her breeding cats are kept within enclosures and all kittens that go out the gate are desexed first.

Last April, the New Zealand Veterinary Association released their report into research on the cat population.

A request for an interview was sent to the head of veterinary services Callum Irvine but he responded with an email which said input was being sought from key stakeholders and the NCMSG were planning to go public in May.

NCMSG include the New Zealand Veterinary Association, the New Zealand Companion Animal Council, the Royal New Zealand SPCA, Gareth Morgan's Morgan Foundation and Local Government New Zealand. The Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Primary Industries are technical advisers.