For the reason that tenth of June this 12 months, cat house owners in England should guarantee their pets are microchipped or face a effective of £500 however Cats Safety analysis reveals house owners of as much as 2.2 million cats have but to conform.
Early information from the charity’s Cats And Their Stats Report for 2024 reveals there round 1.9 million cats in England who usually are not microchipped and round 300,000 cats have house owners who aren’t certain if their pet is microchipped.
Of the house owners who haven’t microchipped their pet, one in 4 (26%) mentioned their cat doesn’t enterprise outdoor and round one in 5 (19%) mentioned their pet didn’t wander far once they did come out. Round one in seven (14%) mentioned their cat was identifiable by its collar and one other one in seven (14%) mentioned they simply hadn’t thought of microchipping their cat.
Cats Safety says microchipping is vital as a result of it can drastically improve the power of cat charities, vets and councils to reunite misplaced cats with their house owners.
Madison Rogers, Head of Advocacy, Campaigns and Authorities Relations for Cats Safety, mentioned: “Some house owners suppose they’re by no means going to undergo the trauma of shedding their pet cat, however within the final 12 months 115,000 pet cats in England went lacking and by no means returned house so that is way more widespread than folks suppose.
“Cats are nimble and very agile and may simply slip out with out us noticing. It’s very straightforward for cats that stay indoors to flee, notably in the summertime the place it’s straightforward to by chance go away a window or a door ajar.
“Many misplaced cats stay a daunting life on the streets. No meals, no water, no shelter, no veterinary care and continually liable to extreme damage or demise from many hazards resembling vehicles and wild animals. Collars can simply drop off, grow to be broken in order that the handle particulars grow to be unreadable and, if they aren’t fast launch, can grow to be snagged on obstacles like tree branches, inflicting accidents to the cat.
“In distinction, a microchip is protected, stays together with your cat for its lifetime and is linked to contact particulars which might be saved safely in a database. Offered that house owners hold the contact particulars updated, then a microchip supplies the perfect likelihood of being reunited with a misplaced pet.”
Alice Potter, cat welfare professional on the RSPCA, mentioned: “We’ve got seen cats coming into our care who’re sadly not microchipped and will by no means be reunited with their house owners. On common, 11% of all cats coming into the RSPCA’s care are nonetheless not microchipped.
“We’ve additionally rescued cats who’ve been microchipped however the particulars haven’t been saved up-to-date which is arguably much more irritating because it means cats spend a very long time in our care while we fruitlessly attempt to contact the proprietor with outdated info.
“Nonetheless, we’ve additionally seen numerous tales of cats which have been reunited with their house owners because of a tiny microchip – exhibiting what this modification of laws will obtain for animal welfare.”
Sandra Sinclair, a instructor from Tooting in South-West London, was grateful for her cat Nutmeg’s microchip after he went lacking from his house in December 2021.
Her hopes have been answered when just a few weeks later Nutmeg was discovered wandering the streets of Ascot in Berkshire some 30 miles away. He was taken to Bracknell and Wokingham Cats Safety who scanned him for a microchip and have been in a position to return him to Sandra and her household.
Sandra mentioned: “We don’t know how he bought to Ascot. Did he bounce right into a supply van or perhaps somebody tried to steal him as a result of he was so pleasant? Solely Nutmeg will ever know however my household and I are simply so relieved we had him microchipped.”
In keeping with Cats Safety, it normally prices between £20 and £30 to have your cat microchipped, relying on the place you reside in England. Chat to your vet they usually can organize this straightforward and straightforward process.
Additional details about the advantages of microchipping will be discovered on the Cats Safety web site at cats.org.uk/microchipping or on the RSPCA web site at www.rspca.org.uk/microchipping