All dogs have to be microchipped by law for their safety, writes Joan Campbell of Caithness Cats Protection, so why not cats?
To chip or not to chip? That should never be the question.
Unfortunately, in too many households, it is – though never in organisations with the welfare of the nation’s pets at heart, which plead with owners to make that simple decision and have their pets microchipped.
It’s not expensive, and if you adopt a cat from somewhere like Cats Protection, the organisation may even cover the cost.
Too many cats have a tendency to go walkabout whenever the fancy takes them.
A missing pet of any kind causes anxiety for its owner, at the very least, but never more so than when a child loses their precious companion. Often, searching the nearby streets and countryside or posting distressed appeals on social media fails to stem the tears when a cat just disappears without a trace.
Cats are inquisitive to a fault, can curl up and sleep at the drop of a hat in a cosy spot, and can be transported to many faraway places. Strays are lucky if they are handed into a rescue centre that will strive to find an owner.
The worry then transfers to the volunteer, or vet, whose first instinct is to run a scanner over the cat’s neck, praying to hear the beep signalling that contact details are available. Too often, there is silence.
Make rules the same for cats and dog owners
It became compulsory in April 2016 to have dogs microchipped. There has been considerable support around bringing in the same legislation for cats, who are much more likely to stray than a dog.
With England now closer to microchipping becoming mandatory for cats, it’s time for the Scottish Government to get a move on. As we at Caithness Cats Protection know, the vast majority of stray and lost cats are not microchipped. There is a huge cost to bringing a cat to the stage of adoption, not only in pounds and pence, but also in utter despair.
A survey in England found that 99% of people support compulsory microchipping of cats, leading to the UK Government Action Plan for Animal Welfare considering new laws. Currently, Scotland is well behind England on this front, despite only 26% of Scottish cats being microchipped. It is a huge bonus for volunteers to find a stray cat that is chipped.
Until the proposed plan under consideration comes into effect in England, and a similar plan is effectively legislated in Scotland, Cats Protection volunteers will continue to experience the anguish of having to find a new home for what once was a much-loved pet, reduced to a sorry state through weeks, months and, at times, years of wandering strange places.
Meanwhile, its original owner will forever wonder just what happened to their cat. And all for the lack of that little chip.
Joan Campbell is an author who began her work with Caithness Cats Protection after retiring from the tourism industry
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