Mrs Davenport said cats were wonderful pets but had a detrimental impact on Tasmania's native wildlife.

``The Tasmanian government will be legislating to introduce mandatory desexing and identification of domestic cats,'' Mrs Davenport said.

``The new laws are designed to protect both people's pets and Tasmania's unique diversity of wildlife.

``We can look after both by adopting responsible actions to reduce the impact of our cats on native wildlife.''

Mrs Davenport said owners could follow four steps to ensure that their cats had minimal impact.

People could desex their cats as they then became less territorial and this avoided unwanted litters, which often became feral.

Owners should have their cats microchipped so that they could be easily identified.

Owners are also being asked not to dump unwanted kittens but to have them humanely euthanised or to find a responsible owner.

People can also keep their cats enclosed in a cat yard or inside, especially at night, to avoid them preying on wildlife.