Cat ownership in parts of Southland will soon be paw-leased.

Environment Southland is proposing changes that will see a ban on all new domestic cats in the Southland community of Omaui to help protect biodiversity in the area.

Biosecurity operations manager Ali Meade says a number of rules and regulations are in place to monitor cat ownership in the area.

"Any domestic cats is neutered and micro chipped. We will then keepa list, so you can keep the cats you've got now and they can live out their natural life but you can't replace them."