7 Nov 2023
Vets who tracked down a lost pet’s owners have warned his case was a rare one as the implementation of new requirements draws closer.
Allister Webb
Job Title
The case of Flash, back home after his exploits, shows the need for microchipping, according to Prince Bishop Veterinary Hospital.
A stowaway cat was reunited with his owners after a member of the public handed him in at a County Durham veterinary practice.
Staff at the Prince Bishop Veterinary Hospital, near Consett, traced the owners of 16-month-old Flash through his up-to-date microchip.
But, with new legal requirements for cats in England to be microchipped due to come into force next summer, the practice believes the case shows just how important the devices are.
Clinical director Gillian Brown said that, while Flash is one of dozens of stray cats handed into them each year, the outcome in his case was unusual.
She said: “We don’t often have a happy ending like Flash’s story as the chances of reuniting them with their owners are slim if they’re not microchipped, which is very sad.”
Flash had travelled more than 90 miles from his home in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, before he was handed in at the hospital.
The black and white cat had jumped into a furniture delivery van near his home, which then travelled to the Washington service area on the A1(M), near Chester-le-Street.
While enquiries revealed no sign of him in the vehicle, Flash eventually turned up a further 16 miles away on the doorstep of a house in the village of Chopwell, from where he was taken to the hospital.
Although Flash was covered in ticks when he arrived at the practice, a health check showed he was fit enough to leave.
Dr Brown found he had been registered as missing by his owners through scanning the chip.
She added: “We’ve never had a cat handed in that has travelled as far as Flash, although we’ve known cats that have been missing from home for years that have been living rough and we are able to reunite them with their owners after they were handed in as they were microchipped.”
New legislation, which is due to come into force from June next year, will make it a legal requirement for all cats in England that are aged 20 weeks or older to be microchipped and for their owners to keep current details on a database.
But concerns have been raised about a broad lack of public knowledge of the measures, after an RSPCA survey earlier this year indicated nearly half of adults were unaware of the planned changes.
