Good and long awaited news for our 🐈 cats!
The cat microchipping.
You may already be aware that the new bill has finally passed and the cat microchipping is (finally!) becoming compulsory in the UK
We strongly invite you to read the full press release from the
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey MP. It can be found here:
Treasured pets now safer as microchipping for cats becomes compulsory.
This is good news.
Highlights in the press release from March 13th mention the following:
- Government delivers on key manifesto pledge to introduce compulsory microchipping for all owned cats
- Owners will have until 10 June 2024 to microchip their cat
- Microchipping cats will help reunite thousands of lost or stray pets every year
There’s actually more to this, as we all hope, the same as with dogs, cats will be quicker identifiable and it will become easier to reunite them should they get lost.
We know that although suggested, many cat owners still resist from microchipping their loved pets.
As much as ⅓ of cats in the UK are not currently microchipped.
We also know, some other issues have happened in the past - some databases were not up to date, some of the places where microchipping took place did not send details to these databases.
We also know some unofficial databases existed.
To that effect, we will once again mention the official, UK government approved databases where you can register your pets. All of them pass on details to each other in case of a pet that has been identified as found and scanned.
To remember!
"The new rules mean cats must be implanted with a microchip before they reach the age of 20 weeks and their contact details stored and kept up to date in a pet microchipping database.
All owners must have their cat microchipped by 10 June 2024 and owners found not to have microchipped their cat will have 21 days to have one implanted, or may face a fine of up to £500."
Microchipping databases UK:
It is also very important to remember to always keep your details up to date. A phone number and an address is usually requested and you can easily create an online account and login to check all your details are correctly registered.
Please also remember that your veterinarian and local rescues and volunteers can easily check your pet’s microchip.
For those looking at microchipping their pets, there are going to be various occasions to do so at reduced or even nil cost. We will publish the next local events, so please keep an eye on this blog page updates.
Please share these good news and please invite your friends and family to microchip their pets.
