From April 2016, dog owners have been legally required to microchip their dog, but cat microchipping is still merely a recommendation. We think it’s just as important for our independent, inquisitive friends to be given the same level of protection.
The procedure is quick and cheap (in fact for Mount Active Health Club members, it’s free! Not already a member but want to find out more? Click here) and can make a big difference to your cat and to you.
3 excellent reasons to microchip your cat:
1. It gets them home quickly if they lose their way
Cats are well known for exploring. Cars, sheds, garages… they can’t help themselves. Many cats have no visible form of ID, and if found are often taken to a vet or a shelter. The good news is that roughly 74% are reunited with their owners if they’re microchipped compared to a meagre 13% of non-microchipped cats. That’s a frightening 87% of un-chipped cats never finding home.
There might be changes at home – local building work, visitors, a new cat on their territory, fireworks, – that make them travel further away from home than normal. If they got lost and taken to a shelter or to us, there’s a good chance they’ll get home, and quickly.
You might think that your cat will never disappear and need help, but cats are curious, active and independent animals.
Indoor cats aren’t safe from their own inquisitiveness either. House cats are in fact more likely to get lost if they get out as they’re unfamiliar with the area and aren’t used to other strange – and generally territorial – cats being around.
2. A chip doesn’t fall off and the information on it can only be changed using a secure log-in
Collars and tags regularly come off and become illegible. They can also cause serious harm to cats if they get caught on something such as a branch whilst your cat is jumping around. If your cat is taken, then collars can easily be removed, leaving no chance of your cat being identified in the future.
Microchips get over all of these problems.
3. Microchip technology can be used in other ways at home
We can now use microchips to individualise day-to-day items used by your cat at home.
A cat flap that only allow programmed cats in can solve a world of problems, and make your cat feel a lot more secure in their own home.
Most cat owners have at one time or another experienced another cat coming in through the cat flap. These are – more often than not – male cats who are territorial and aggressive, and they think nothing of terrorising your cat in their own home and marking the area by spraying. This is very unpleasant and notoriously difficult to permanently get rid of.
Another invention that we recommend to multi-cat households where different diets are required are feeding bowls that open for a particular chip. For example if you have an overweight cat and a cat on sensitive food, then it’s very difficult to make sure they just what’s right for them. This makes it simple and fool proof.
