
This put up first appeared on iCatCare on the thirtieth July 2018 here.
A microchip supplies the very best likelihood of being reunited along with your cat if they’re misplaced. This is essential even for indoor cats, or cats with entry to an enclosed backyard, as they might nonetheless by chance escape and turn into misplaced. In England, all cat house owners should have their cat microchipped by 10 June 2024 or face a potential high-quality.
Microchipping includes inserting a tiny implant beneath the cat’s pores and skin (normally the scruff of the neck). This incorporates a novel quantity that’s linked to a central database containing the proprietor’s tackle and phone quantity. Should the cat turn into misplaced or separated from its proprietor, a microchip scanner can be used to establish the cat and discover the proprietor. Veterinary clinics and homing centres routinely use these scanners to establish stray cats and reunite them with their house owners.
Having a novel and everlasting identification quantity is essential when veterinarians are submitting check samples for potential inherited illnesses. A microchip may additionally imply that within the unhappy circumstance {that a} cat is run over, its proprietor might be knowledgeable and never left questioning the place the cat is. Additionally, microchips could also be essential in authorized instances when a cat’s possession is questioned.
Why not use a collar and tag?
Collars are detachable or can turn into misplaced, and whereas they do assist to visibly present {that a} cat is owned, they don’t seem to be with out threat (if utilizing a collar, all the time guarantee it has a ‘snap open’ mechanism). Microchipping is a safer possibility as it’s everlasting with minimal threat concerned. To discover out extra about points with collars or discover ways to appropriately match a collar, click here.
Can inserting a microchip hurt my cat?
International Cat Care is in settlement with the World Small Animal Veterinary Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association in affirming that microchipping of canine and cats is secure and really hardly ever related to any important issues. The microchip is the scale of a grain of rice and is implanted in a related strategy to giving a vaccination, inflicting very minimal, non permanent discomfort.
When ought to cats be microchipped?
Many house owners have their cats microchipped on the similar time as vaccination or once they are beneath anaesthetic for neutering. A cat might be microchipped as a kitten or an grownup. Microchipping might be carried out by your vet or different educated animal care professionals.
Are your particulars updated?
It might be very irritating for these coping with misplaced or stray cats to seek out that house owners can’t be contacted as a result of they’ve moved away and never knowledgeable the microchip firm of their new contact particulars. Recent data urged that 70% of canine data on a UK database was not correct because it had not been up to date. If your cat is microchipped, test now that the microchip firm has the proper particulars for you.
There actually isn’t any cause not to have your cat microchipped. It can imply the distinction between a misplaced cat coming residence or not.
For extra data on microchipping, learn our microchipping position statement.