Microchipping cats

Sparklefizz

Some cats actually don't want to go out. I had a little rescue cat who was terrified to go over the thresh hold into the garden.

I dare say that’s because she hadn’t been allowed to before.

My SiL fosters a lot of cats. She had one that had previously lived for 9 years in a high rise flat and had never been outside. With patience SiL did overcome her fear, and eventually the cat came to enjoy the garden and being out of doors generally.

Even indoor cats can sometimes get
out by accident, you see desperate posts on local Facebook groups. Cats get in vans and jump out miles from home. Sadly some get run over. If your cat is chipped in these circumstances, you are much more likely to be reunited with them.

My little babies are both microchipped because if one of them wandered off there is much more chance of getting them back. You know what, it is against nature to fly in a plane, get vaccinated against anything at all ,drive a car. Really! Life is full of compromises.

VictoryaW17

I do not agree with microchipping cats, it's against their nature. And if owners want to keep their cats in doors they can do it. Because no one knows a pet more than its owner.

What?

I do not agree with microchipping cats, it's against their nature. And if owners want to keep their cats in doors they can do it. Because no one knows a pet more than its owner.

If you take your moggy for microchipping hold it very tightly. DS's cousin took her puppy which wriggled at the crucial moment. Cousin got the chip in her arm. At least if she gets lost she will be returned home.

Chardy

The 7am News has just reported that cat-microchipping will be made mandatory (no time-scale was mentioned). As so few cats are seen out and about on the streets in towns, I assume that many don't let their cats out to wander.
If they don't go out, why chip them?

Because they invariably do escape, one day or another. And if they are not used to go out, they are much more at risk than those who are.

All of our 4 cats have been both microchipped and have ear tattoos.

The 2 youngest will be indoor cats as one is partially sighted due to previous neglect and too unafraid the other is such a scardy cat that she might panic and run and never be seen again (we got both from a shelter after animal protection removed them from original owners). However I could never 100% guarantee that they would never manage to escape and would like them returned if they do.

And if they don't go out, do they even need vaccinating?

I keep mine fully vaccinated. He goes to the vet, unfortunately quite frequently this past year, and you never know when a cat might need to go into a cattery eg due to an owners ill-health.

seacliff

Our own cats are country cats with lots of space to roam, up a drive off a quiet lane. We do get them all in at night. However our beautiful two year old fluffy black boy was killed on the road during the day. People drive too fast and some don't slow down if they see animals/wildlife.

We said if we had young cats again, we'd really love to build them a very big safe enclosure with plants and bushes etc. And an access tunnel to the house. It would give us peace of mind.

We built an enclosure for a Burmese we had years ago but all he wanted to do was escape out of the front door. He once escaped out of a loft window and had to be rescued off the roof. He died quite young of an infection and I always regret him not having the freedom he craved.

Our own cats are country cats with lots of space to roam, up a drive off a quiet lane. We do get them all in at night. However our beautiful two year old fluffy black boy was killed on the road during the day. People drive too fast and some don't slow down if they see animals/wildlife.

We said if we had young cats again, we'd really love to build them a very big safe enclosure with plants and bushes etc. And an access tunnel to the house. It would give us peace of mind.

My cat lady has bags of kittens dumped on her step nearly every week. She only rehomes the healthy ones when they are ready and expects a donation, around £50.
Lots of cats come through my garden since I got mine and there was a terrible fight this morning with fur flying everywhere .
My boy doesn't fight but is quick to
chase off intruders.

everywhere.

Chardy

The original question was 'If they don't go out, why chip them?'

And if they don't go out, do they even need vaccinating?

I only read the headline about cats in parts of Australia Chardy so don't have the full story - sorry.

I'm really happy that, from now on, it will be easier to find the owners of lost cats. I've always allowed mine out, but I don't think it's cruel to keep one as a house cat, especially where there's busy traffic about.

If a cat is microchipped and wanders away from home and is found and handed in to a vet or animal sanctuary or to the police, they will check that it is chipped, read the number and contact the owner. If that it, the owner has remembered to register the cat with the national registry.

If you want to travel from one country to another, cats must be microchipped for you to get a pet passport for them.

My sister's one cat was found dead in a car park miles away from her home. Because the cat was chipped, she was notified what had happened to her pet, which was a relief.

Here stray cats can be rounded up by the authorities and either put down or re-homed if they are neither chipped, nor tattooed.

Both our previous cats were chipped, as we travelled with them and I fully intend to have my next pair chipped, as the law in Denmark states that anyone who wants may keep a cat that strays onto his property, if it is neither chipped, tattooed or wearing a collar with the owner's address.

Now many cats are adepts at taking their collars off, ear tattoos tend to fade badly in a couple of years, and I certainly do not want any cat of mine being claimed by someone else. This is a fairly new law, and I am afraid that cat-haters will make use of it to kill strays that are not clearly someone's pet.

Neither of our cats had any trouble with the chip and they both lived to a ripe old age.

I agree that cats kept as pets in towns are often never allowed out, but that increasesthe risk of them being unable to find their way home again if they do get out.

In the country, cats are still kept as working animals controlling mice and rats on farms, in tanneries and timber-yards. Working cats are rarely neutered so every autumn there are young strays looking for homes. You may not see them, after all they mistrust humans, but they are there.

Unfortunately, people with "second homes" in the countryside fall for a sweet kitten,, feed it while they are on holiday, and wrongly assume it can take care of itself when they leave. It can't as it hasn't learned to hunt when it should have. During lockdown people have acquired both kittens and puppies and are now realising that pets are too much work, The more responsible people hand them in to a cat and dog home, or have them put down, the others just leave them in a lay-by or a wood, where as often as not the poor animal starves to death.

The original question was 'If they don't go out, why chip them?'

I was turned down by one rescue centre because I didn`t have a garden for the cat to play in! How many cats actually stay and play in their own gardens? Luckily the CPL thought differently, we`ve now had Billy for 7 months.

We’ve always neutered and chipped our cats. If your cat is found away from local area then you stand a better chance of getting it back. Just this week a local cat jumped in a delivery van without driver knowing - only realised when he stopped 30miles away and a cat darted by. Luckily this cat was reunited quite quickly. Loads and loads of unwanted cats/kittens where I live sadly and agencies so full they can’t take in any more. Also if your cat is killed on road it is a way of identifying whose deceased cat it is if taken to vet by a kind person or if it is sadly just left at roadside then the bin men SHOULD scan dead animals.

I've -owned-been oned by several cats, over many years, and had each one neutered and microchipped. My remaining cat is really old now, so only goes out for about one hour out of 24. There seem to be lots of posts on Facebook about missing cats. I think perhaps some choose to just leave and look for new homes.

My cats are microchipped. BUT to put them on registers, so you can be traced, is quite expensive.

I've also got 2 house cats. Like SL2012, I've lost cats in the past. 1 I know left home and went to be an 'only cat' at a house up the road. But another one was out and lost and couldn' t find his way home. He was seen up the road at the OAP home (not by me). I still mourn him. He was a lovely boy.

My granny had cats. She lost a few, over the years. I'm not taking the risk anymore.

Mine are Chinese rescues. Brought them back with me. They've been to Spain too.

It's already mandatory for dogs, but you'd be surprised at how many still aren't chipped, or owners have moved and haven't updated their details on the datebase. I'm all for cats being chipped too, but in practice, there's very little way of actually enforcing it.

I know things have changed now but when I lived in China in the early 90s it was against the law to see cats and dogs outside in daylight hours. One European woman was reported by her neighbour for letting her dog out in her own private garden, during the day.

sodapop

Can't agree Chardy with the best will in the world cats will wander from their homes. Microchipping will enable them to be returned home. If a cat is killed on the road a chip will allow the owners to be notified. Like BlueBelle I don't like the idea of house cats.
I read that somewhere in Australia cats will be banned from being outside at all.

Sodapop The Aussie thing was on TV last week (?) or week before, with a UK vet in the studio and a female Aussie councillor on Zoom. She said they wanted cats indoors during hours of darkness, vet agreed it was a good idea.
If I haven't remembered that correctly, do put me right, I was only half-listening!

When we lived in village, they'd go out, but one had a run-in with a fox, and so when they became elderly and we got kittens, the cat flap went. I was surprised they didn't care. Subsequent cats have all been house cats, Smileless2012.