September 23, 2024
The Results of Ottawa’s Biggest Cat Survey
Want to know a fool-proof recipe for disaster? Doing things in a vacuum.
That’s why I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who filled out the Outdoor Cat Survey in August, to share their thoughts on outdoor cats and their welfare.
And what did we learn? Resoundingly, that Ottawa residents don’t believe cats belong outdoors, unsupervised. Of 3,465 respondents, 76% opposed unsupervised outdoor roaming for cats, 15% supported it, and 9% were unsure. At the OHS, that makes us happy. We often will receive tearful calls that an outdoor cat has not returned. Or we will have to call someone, to tell them their cat has been found outdoors, deceased. After decades of advocacy and education, we have increased the number of stray cats we’re able to return to their owners – up to a mere 10%, from a distressing 2%. It’s not enough.
The community’s feedback provides essential insights into Ottawa’s perception on outdoor cats and will help shape our strategy and programs geared towards preventing cat homelessness and improving animal welfare for more than just our feline friends. Aside from beliefs about free-roaming cats, the survey also gathered information about free-roaming cat populations and people’s concerns about free-roaming cats.
With the information, we’ve been able to map data across Ottawa and have pictured the results at the end of the blog. In general, more sightings of cats were reported near waterfront areas than anywhere else. Most respondents (1,511) reported seeing fewer than 2 cats; and respondents who reported 5 to 11 cats were largely concentrated in waterfront and suburban communities. This finding was surprising, as conventionally we’d expect more outdoor cats spotted in densely populated urban communities.
Respondents’ top concerns about cat welfare included injury by car, health and safety and outdoors cats’ impact on bird and wildlife populations. Many were concerned about cats on their property and cat overpopulation.
We’ve already shared our findings with some key stakeholders in our community, to talk about how we will use this information to improve the well-being of Ottawa’s outdoor cats. Stay tuned for more details! Working together, we can do so much more for Ottawa’s animals and build a more humane and compassionate community for all.
Stay up to date on our efforts and cat updates in Ottawa by signing up for our monthly Animal Advocate newsletter.
Sharon Miko
President & CEO