Dog owners in Delta already know they are required to have a licence for their four-legged friends, but that could soon also be the case for cats.

A report will be coming to Delta council in the coming weeks with recommendations for a cat licensing system.

The new requirement, part of an updated animal control bylaw, would require cat owners to register their felines. Rather than a typical tag that's given for dogs, the plan would also see tiny chips embedded in cats, which would enable animal control staff to easily and quickly identify a lost cat brought in to the Delta Community Animal Shelter.

At a council workshop last month, politicians debated the idea put forward in a report by the municipal solicitor.

Noting dog owners are currently subsidizing the costs of sheltering and caring for stray cats, Coun. Robert Campbell told the Optimist the recommendation is to have a phased approach over two to three years with the fee likely coming on stream in the second year.

He said one of the many advantages is a higher return rate for stray and missing cats, which reduces the shelter's expenditures as the cats would not require such lengthy stays.

"The other thing is, someone loses a cat, we pick it up and how do we get it back to the owners? That's pretty difficult," he said.

"If you have a small charge for a licence for a cat, you can implant the cat with a chip and with a wand like you'd have in the grocery store the attendant at the shelter can read the chip and determine where that cat belongs."

The report to council notes some of the disadvantages of the program will likely include dissatisfaction from cat owners required to pay a fee, particularly those whose cats are strictly house pets. There's also the physical act of capturing a cat for impoundments or identification, which can be more difficult than catching a dog.

Depending on the compliance, the licensing program could generate anywhere from $16,000 to $100,000 per year, according to the report.

The annual fee for a spayed or neutered cat would be around $20, said Campbell.

In 2009, the shelter processed 439 cats that were either surrendered or strays, according to the report. Of that number, 381 were considered strays, but only 21 were claimed by the original owner.

By contrast, there's an 80 to 85 per cent return rate for dogs due to the animals having appropriate identification, such as a licence tag, tattoo or microchip.

Animal shelter manager Sarah Lowe said having permanent identification through a licensing a program would solve a "huge" cat problem.

She said the shelter currently has about 70 cats, including 25 kittens and several pregnant cats.

She noted a recent case of a cat hit by a car in Delta, taken for emergency care in Vancouver, and now in recovery at a North Delta clinic is just one example of the expense the Delta shelter has to bear.

"A lot of people don't check their local shelter, they just assume their cats ran away," said Lowe.

"We have to figure out in our community and all over the Lower Mainland what to do about this problem with cats and not enough homes."

Lowe noted a cat licensing system in Calgary has had positive results. Cat licences have been mandatory in Calgary since 2007, although cat owners had a one-year grace period.

Calgary city council passed the licensing bylaw in an effort to keep the stray cat population down. The funds generated go to that city's animal programs, something that would also occur in Delta, said Lowe. She said the funding here could help reduce the population of unwanted and feral cats.

The current Delta bylaw prohibits cats from running at large, but only if they are not spayed or neutered. The new bylaw could also include a clause prohibiting all cats from roaming at large.

The report suggests a penalty of $50 for spayed/neutered cats and $100 for unspayed/uneutered cats caught roaming at large.