Charity urges new drive to raise cat microchip rule awareness

More needs to be done to raise awareness of new microchipping requirements for cats in England, despite an increase in the number being chipped, a charity has warned.

New figures from Cats Protection show 75% of cats in England – a higher proportion than any other UK nation – now have microchips, up from 73% last year.

But the group’s latest Cats and Their Stats report said there are still more than 2.3 million cats without microchips, while 850,000 others are estimated to have chips with outdated details.

Further increases

Officials say they are hopeful that the rules requiring all cats aged 20 weeks and older to be microchipped, which were introduced in June, will drive further increases in the years ahead.

But the report also found 8% of owners were unaware of the rules at all, while 26% of those that have not had their cats chipped had not done so because they were kept indoors.

The report said: “This shows that there is still work to be done in raising awareness that these regulations apply to all cats.

“This is especially so, as indoor cats are arguably at greater risk of becoming lost, should they find themselves outside in unfamiliar surroundings.”

Unaware

The report also found that the proportion of microchipped cats falls to 69% among owners aged 18 to 34, while 10% of that age group were also unaware of the new rules.

Despite concerns about the number still without microchips, the proportion of chipped cats in England remains higher than the 74% recorded in Wales, 72% in Scotland and only 64% in Northern Ireland.

Madison Rogers, the charity’s head of advocacy, campaigns and government relations, said the introduction of the new rules were “a massive victory for cat welfare”, as campaigning for similar requirements in the other UK nations continues.