It started about 10:00pm one night when the strong stench of cat urine infiltrated my house.

Key points: Multiple Adelaide councils are cracking down on cats by imposing curfews and ownership limits

Multiple Adelaide councils are cracking down on cats by imposing curfews and ownership limits The Animal Welfare League receives about 6,000 cats annually, but only 129 were reclaimed by owners last year

The Animal Welfare League receives about 6,000 cats annually, but only 129 were reclaimed by owners last year One Rosewater resident has captured 30 strays in her own backyard over four years

It stank in the lounge room, the hallway, the kitchen, and even the backroom — a potent mix of urea, creatine, and uric acid that seemed to be coming from the walls themselves.

I had recently moved into the rented abode and wondered for a moment if a rogue cat had somehow clawed into the ceiling until I spotted a streak of urine on the front doorstep.

An hour after scrubbing it clean the stench again infiltrated my house with violent efficiency, suggesting I was victim to a persistent tomcat marking its territory now that the previous owners and their dog had moved out.

A website search revealed that so-called 'nuisance cats' were an established problem across metropolitan Adelaide, with various councils suggesting everything from sprinkling lemon and orange peels, to citronella, pepper, or other concoctions and products to repel them from doorsteps.

I chose pepper, but further digging on the internet revealed patience was wearing thin for cats across multiple jurisdictions, with at least one council threatening to destroy nuisance cats if they were not claimed within three days of being captured at large.

Cats in the crosshairs

SA's Dog and Cat Management Board (DCMB) imposed new laws from July 2018 that made it compulsory to desex and microchip all cats and dogs from a certain age, unless exempt for breeding or working.

A year earlier it gave councils greater powers to investigate and prosecute dog and cat-related offences, as well as increase expiations and penalties.

One of about 30 strays a Rosewater resident captured in her backyard. ( Supplied: SJ )

Mount Barker District Council has since adopted a by-law to impose a night-time curfew on cats between 8:00pm and 7:00am.

City of Marion is seeking legal advice on the same, Campbelltown City is investigating a curfew, and the Adelaide Hills Council will confine cats to an owner's property 24 hours a day from 2022 unless they are under physical restraint.

Mount Barker Mayor Ann Ferguson said her council had responded to complaints that cats, feral and owned, were killing native wildlife, defecating in people's yards, fighting with and spreading disease to domestic cats.

She said the council had found that 'semi-owned' animal numbers — stray cats that are fed by people who do not take responsibility for them — were increasing due to uncontrolled breeding.

The Town of Gawler wants to go one step further and has referred a proposed by-law to the DCMB that could see roaming cats destroyed if they are not claimed by an entitled person within 72 hours of being given notice of their detention.

Mayor Karen Redman said the DCMB had not yet responded with a formal response and at this stage it was "difficult to provide comment" on whether such a law would create anxiety among cat owners.

Multiple councils, including Mitcham City Council, have also been implementing by-laws that restrict new owners to just two desexed cats per property.

Owners abandoning cats

Animal Welfare League South Australia chief executive officer Richard Mussell said the league had taken in more than 6,000 cats each year for the past decade.

He said in the last financial year, nearly 3,000 cats were adopted from AWL, but only 129 were reclaimed by their owners.

"As a renowned, not-for-profit animal welfare and care provider, our focus is on the rehoming of lost, surrendered, and abandoned animals such as cats and reuniting lost pets with their owners," Mr Mussell said.

"We encourage responsible pet ownership including the mandatory desexing and microchipping of all cats.

"Mandatory cat management guidelines for councils would greatly assist in reducing the number of strays coming to us."

Resident catches 30 rogue cats in four years

While the crackdown on irresponsible cat owners may be welcome news to people like myself who believe the smell of cat urine should be reserved for those who own them, others believe it does not go far enough to tackle strays or feral cats.

Rosewater resident SJ, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought a house four years ago and quickly discovered "there was an excess of strays in the area".

After talking with her 94-year-old neighbour, she learnt he had been feeding several cats that had been "dumped in the district or left behind over the years" and they had subsequently bred.

He believed if you attracted strays into a concentrated area you could better grasp the extent of the problem and capture them from a central location to eventually be handed over to the AWL.

Feral and stray cats regularly spray, defecate and fight in SJ's backyard. ( Supplied: SJ )

Once he was too old to manage it himself, SJ's neighbour gave SJ a trap so she could start trapping the cats as well.

She has since trapped more than 30 cats.

"I don't have any birds. I don't have any lizards," SJ said.

"I've got cat sh*t all through my yard and they p*ss on my doorstep.

"It becomes a health hazard and some of them aren't healthy. They're sneezing and they're manky and if I didn't have a sausage dog they'd be everywhere.

"Fritz keeps them out of the backyard but he's been beaten up before."

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 31 seconds 1 m 31 s Study co-author Dr John Woinarski says Australian animals have not co-evolved with cats.

A more humane approach

Describing herself as a cat lover, and indeed she has taken ownership of one of the cats, SJ pointed out that capturing and delivering them to the AWL was more humane than tactics other people in the district had taken, which included poisoning.

"They are lovely animals but when you see them on this scale, and people aren't being responsible for them, then the damage they cause to the local environment is just too great," SJ said.

Many councils do offer residents traps for people at the receiving end of nuisance cat behaviour — with strict laws demanding a microchipped or collared cat is released immediately and a cage is out of the sun and rain.

Those councils will collect a trapped cat from the elderly.

Various peppers sprinkled on an Unley doorstep to ward off spraying cats. ( ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton )

SJ originally had to use her own car to transport a cat to the AWL, which can be messy work, despite using a tarpaulin to capture the urine the angry cats spray while hissing and spitting.

"They can be really aggressive, and with good reason too," she said.

"If you're caught in a cage you're going to be a bit cranky, and they can be really scary."

It can also be difficult because the AWL only accepts cats between 10:00am and 4:00pm while she is at work.

SJ has since found agreement with the council to get their assistance, but pointed out with better support more residents could band together for a more coordinated approach.

"It would be good if we could get some help — recognise the problem and not just brush it under the carpet," she said.

Mr Mussell said the majority of strays brought to the AWL for rehoming came from members of the public.

He said it cost the AWL about $800 to rehome a cat which are vaccinated, desexed, microchipped, and checked by a veterinarian.

AWL SA currently has 18 cats up for adoption.

As for my own experience, the pepper — so far — has kept the tomcat at bay.

By the smell of disinfectant coming from my neighbour's front yard, however, it would seem the cat has taken his stench next door.

Perhaps the AWL will soon have another animal to rehome.