An environmental group's call for microchipping and a one-cat per household limit has been rejected by Environment Minister Chris Carter, who prefers to encourage "responsible pet ownership".
Christchurch's Cat Control Campaign group wants restrictions on cat ownership to combat their killing of wildlife.
Spokesman Ray Spring said cat owners should be limited to one animal and be required to microchip and register their cats, keep them on their sections and inside at night.
"Any cats out at night, if they have been microchipped, would be returned to their owner and [the owner] fined," Mr Spring said.
"And if they weren't microchipped, then they would have to be euthanased ... unless someone else would like to have the cat and microchip it and keep it indoors at night."
Mr Spring, who has never owned a cat but has kept dogs, did not think these proposals were unreasonable.
"If an owner wants to have a cat, they should, as a dog owner has to, put up a suitable fence to keep the cat in."
Mr Carter, who owns one cat called Judith that spends her time lying about and has "never caught anything in her life", said controlling the number of pets people owned was not the answer.
He accepted there was an issue with the feral cat population, but felt domestic cat owners should be educated and encouraged to be responsible.
Mr Spring said feral cats were a lesser problem than the domestic cat.
"[Feral cats] probably have to eat three or four birds a day to stay alive and they die if they don't. So there is a natural control over feral animals. It is the domestic animals that are fed every day and hunt for pleasure."
Albie Jobson, of New Zealand Cat Fancy Inc, said Mr Spring's group would be better off targeting un-neutered cats and possibly wild cats that did not belong to anybody.
"I don't know if there is any definite proof that cats do a great deal of harm to wildlife," Mr Jobson said.
"I can't imagine, if they are being looked after and fed, they would do any substantial damage."
Microchipping of cats was probably inevitable - "It is already happening in the rest of the world". But one cat per household was unrealistic.
Carter rejects call for one cat and chips
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