RSPCA ACT reported there was a more than 27 per cent jump in the number of cats found in containment suburbs brought into its shelters during 2016.

A total of 33 cats and 23 kittens were brought into the RSPCA as strays from containment suburbs last year, compared with 20 cats and 24 kittens presented in 2015.

More than half of the cats brought in from containment suburbs came from The Fair at Watson, with 30 cats being presented.

Figures from the RSPCA showed of the 56 cats captured, 28 were adopted, 10 were reclaimed by their owners and 15 were euthanised.

Out of the remaining three cats two are still waiting to be adopted, while one escaped.

Cat containment measures were brought in by the ACT government in a bid to protect local wildlife in nature reserves from cats roaming the streets, with the measures forcing cats to be confined to their owner's homes at all times.

Containment areas include 12 suburbs bordering on nature reserves around Gungahlin and Weston Creek, including Bonner, Crace, Coombs, Lawson, Moncrieff and Wright.

Cat owners can be fined up to $1500 if their cat is found to be outside a containment area.

Conservation Council ACT executive director Larry O'Loughlin said he would like all Canberra suburbs to be cat containment suburbs.

"About three quarters of Canberra residents live within a kilometre of a nature reserve, which is the range that a cat can roam," he said.

Mr O'Loughlin has advocated for the whole of the ACT to be a cat containment area by 2025, which would give cat owners in other suburbs time to prepare.

He said while containment measures in suburbs had been effective, a uniform approach across all suburbs would be more successful in protecting native wildlife.

"The problem is if you have two suburbs next to each other where one is a cat containment suburb and the other isn't, cats could wander into the non-containment suburb and there'll be no stopping it," Mr O'Loughlin said.

"What we need is a strategy across the city, further education and perhaps some compliance for those who aren't following the rules."

Forde resident Margaret Barker has had to contain her two half-Siamese cats since moving into the Gungahlin suburb in 2012.

In order to comply with containment measures, Mrs Barker has installed netting over a section of her backyard, costing a few thousand dollars.

Originally living in Evatt, which is not a cat containment suburb, Mrs Barker said her cats took a while to adjust to their new environment.

"When they were in Evatt, they still had the freedom. But when we moved here, it just felt a little like we were sentencing them but they've adjusted now," she said.

"Having lived in Canberra for 28 years and always having cats, the cats were able to always go out and do their own thing. But coming to a cat containment suburb, we did feel as if we were denying their freedom."

The ACT government is preparing a cat management strategy that focuses on both domestic and feral cats, which is yet to be endorsed for public consultation.

A spokesman for Transport Canberra and City Services said the strategy would be a part of a broader animal management plan.

"The strategy will seek to ensure cats are responsibly cared for by owners, reduce the number of unwanted cats [and] reduce the impacts of cats on native wildlife," the spokesman said.

A decision on whether more Canberra suburbs will become cat containment suburbs will be made once the strategy is in place.