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Microchipping Your Cat

Cat Blogger Purdy muses on why so many cats still aren’t microchipped.

As a cat who is microchipped I had wrongly assumed that all cats were – how wrong I was. With around two in five cats in the UK still not microchipped I thought I’d look into this and find out why owners aren’t getting this done.

In 2016 it became compulsory to microchip your dog, cats however are still exempt from this law. As well as me, many vets and cat charities are arguing that this should be compulsory for cats too.

“Thousands of cats go missing every year and our research has found that almost one in two cats never return so we recommend microchipping as a safe and permanent method of identification.” (Spokesperson for Cats Protection)

Many owners still do not feel that a microchip is necessary for their cat. Let’s look at the arguments:

“My cat always wears a collar.”

Collars and identification tags are never a guarantee as they could easily break and fall off when cats are out and about. 

“My cat never strays far from the house.”

As much as your cat enjoys being outside there are lots of dangers out there waiting for them – from cars to fighting with other cats in the neighbourhood. For varying reasons cats can become startled and run off, getting lost along the way.

“My cat never goes out.”

You can never predict when they might escape out of the house. If your cat has little experience of being outside then they are more prone to getting lost and unable to find their way back home. I am an indoor cat but my human rightly thought that getting me microchipped would mean additional piece of mind for her that if I did (heaven forbid) go walkabouts there’s a greater chance of us being reunited.

Most of us don’t want to think of the worst case scenario until it happens. Often we can’t fathom the idea of our cats going missing but there are plenty of reasons it occurs. Microchipping is a mere £15 here at Lowesmoor - a bargain considering like me(!),  your cat is priceless.

Purdy

xx