The data is also likely to help the government decide whether it will enforce more cat containment areas in not only new suburbs of Canberra, but existing ones.

The cats in the study wear a tiny GPS tracking unit that registers their every movement.

Cats who have been monitored in the past have been found to roam across vastly different areas, from just the backyard to across 30 hectares.

The ACT government has contributed $12,500 towards the national Cat Tracker study, a citizen science project which gets the average person involved in research.

The Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate says the Canberra data will "inform the development of a planned cat management strategy the ACT Government is working on".

"Our city is known as the bush capital which brings many benefits but it also brings a responsibility to protect our native species who live on our doorstep. Cats are known to be the number one hunter of birds and other native fauna," a statement read.

"It is hoped the Cat Tracker project will provide suggestions for how cats can be best cared for such as strategies for owners to reduce the chance their cat will roam."

The ACT already has 12 suburbs which have been declared cat containment areas.

Cats in Bonner, Crace, Coombs, Denman Prospect, Forde, Jacka, Lawson, Molonglo, Moncrieff, The Fair at Watson, Throsby and Wright have to be kept inside or in purpose-built enclosures outside.

Cats found roaming in these suburbs can be seized by TAMS officers and their owners fined up to $1500.

The government's Animal Welfare & Management Strategy 2017 – 2022 also includes a desire to within three years "investigate feasibility and options for expanding cat containment areas in new and existing urban areas of the ACT".

The University of South Australia's Dr Philip Roetman , who is heading the Cat Tracker study, maintained the research did not have an end goal of recommending more cat containment areas.

Dr Roetman said the study of up to 1400 cats Australia-wide was purely to provide information to the owners.

"And this is information they don't have: where their cats go when they go outside," he said.

"We've tracked over 400 cats already in South Australia and we've found the cat owners are really appreciative of that information, and sometimes shocked by that information.

"And it's information they can use when they're making decisions about the care of their pets.

"From a research perspective, it's also interesting to see how these animals are using human environments.

"What we found in South Australia is that cats who are going further are crossing more roads, so they're in more danger and and they're also showing signs of being in more fights with other cats."

The study of the 428 cats in South Australia found their median home-range was 1.04 hectares, the equivalent area of eight Olympic-sized swimming pools.

About 177 of the cats in that study had been classified by their owners as being kept inside at night but about 40 per cent of them were found to actually roam over one hectare at night.

Dr Roetman said he hoped the study could provide more evidence on which cats were likely to wander more, based on their breed, age, whether they are desexed or not, what their surrounding landscape was like, how much access they had to play and sunlight.

The volunteered cats would be tracked for a week, a GPS unit posted out to owners.

"The owner sends back the unit to us and we upload the tracks online for the owner to see," Dr Roetman said.

"Our advice to all cat owners when we send out the units is, if the cat's uncomfortable, take off the unit and send it back. We don't want cats to be uncomfortable. But most cats flex and stretch for a few minutes and then they're fine."

Anyone interested in participating in the study must first answer at online survey at https://www.discoverycircle.org.au/projects/cat-tracker/ which can help the researchers select a range of cats for tracking.

There are also teaching resources available for Canberra schools which wish to get involved.

Tracking starts on February 1, but people could opt in later.