- Government provides on essential manifesto promise to present obligatory microchipping for all owned cats
- Owners will have till 10 June 2024 to microchip their cat
- Microchipping cats will help reunite countless lost or roaming family pets every year
New legislation to present obligatory cat microchipping is being laid in Parliament today (13 March), making it simpler for lost or roaming animal cats to be reunited with their owners and returned home securely.
There are over 9 million animal cats in England, with as lots of as 2.3 million unchipped, implying that it would be really challenging to reunite them with their owner if they get lost or taken.
The brand-new microchipping guidelines follow a Government require proof and assessment on the concern in which 99% of participants revealed assistance for the procedure. The intro of obligatory cat microchipping was a manifesto dedication and an Action Plan for Animal Welfare promise.
The brand-new guidelines suggest cats need to be implanted with a microchip prior to they reach the age of 20 weeks and their contact information kept and maintained to date in an animal microchipping database. All owners need to have their cat microchipped by 10 June 2024 and owners discovered not to have actually microchipped their cat will have actually 21 days to have one implanted, or might deal with a fine of approximately £500.
Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:
“Cats and kittens are valued family members, and it can be devasting for owners when they are lost or taken.
“Legislating for compulsory microchipping of cats will give comfort to families by increasing the likelihood that lost or stray pets can be reunited with their owners.”
Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:
“I am happy that we are advancing with our requirement for all cats to be microchipped.
“Microchipping is without a doubt the most efficient and quickest method of determining lost family pets. As we’ve seen with dog microchipping, those who are microchipped are more than two times as most likely to be reunited with their owner.
“By getting their cat microchipped, owners can increase the likelihood that they will be reunited with their beloved pet in the event of it going missing.”
Cats Protection’s Head of Advocacy, Campaigns & Government Relations, Madison Rogers, said:
“Cats Protection is delighted that pet cats in England will be given the same protection as dogs when it comes to microchipping. The charity regularly reunites owners with their much-loved cats, and in most cases this is only possible thanks to microchips. No matter how far from home they are found, or how long they have been missing, if a cat has a microchip there is a good chance that a lost cat will be swiftly returned home.”
The procedure of microchipping includes the insertion of a chip, usually around the size of a grain of rice, under the skin of an animal. The microchip has a unique identification number that the keeper requires to sign up on a database. When an animal is discovered, the microchip can be checked out with a scanner and the signed up keeper recognized on a database so the animal can rapidly be reunited with them.
It will not be obligatory free of charge living cats that cope with little or no human interaction or reliance, such as farm, feral or neighborhood cats.
Owners with cats that are already microchipped ought to guarantee their information depend on date.
The dedication to microchipping becomes part of a broader Government effort to build on our existing world-leading requirements. Since releasing the Action Plan for Animal Welfare in 2021: we have actually generated brand-new laws to identify animals life, presented harder charges for animal ruthlessness offenses and advanced a restriction on glue traps.
