This amazing story dropped into our email post this morning, adding weight to Chats du Quercy's reasons for pushing what is now french law, and why microchipping is essential for the protection of cats.
Cats Protection recently reunited a lost cat with his owner – after he had been missing for over a decade! Ginger puss, Nuts, had gone missing from his Derbyshire home in 2001 and, after desperate searches sadly resulted in nothing, his owner, Bunny McCullough had long since given up hope of seeing him again. However, in May of this year, a ginger tom was handed in to our Chesterfield & District Branch after the elderly lady who had been taking care of him passed away. A routine scan revealed a microchip and, with it, the identity of the cat – it was Nuts! He and Bunny have now been reunited in an unexpected happy ending. Cats Protection champions micro chipping as the best way of identifying pets and, as Nuts has proved, it can be the difference between being reunited with a lost cat and never seeing him again.
No doubt human micro-chipping may not be too far in the distant future Kent, and may even solve some immigrant/identity/passport issues???!
Back to the cats, I know a few people now who have invested (they are much cheaper than they used to be) in microchip cat flaps, all with good results. Certainly if you have a stray cat problem it does seem to help!
We had Fred and Ted chipped and have fitted a chip-sensitive cat flap, which works a treat. The beasties seem to have got the hang of it and it keeps out non-programmed cats.
The wonders of technology.
Thinking of getting ourselves chipped and fitting the system in the front door - it'll come to pass - just wait and see - no longer just spooky science fiction...
I do believe there is some truth Julie, as we have heard of cats reported to have been 'stolen' and then found miles and miles away due to their microchip, presumably as the theives have found the microchip and thrown the cat out - let's hope that it is true and as such this law provides another deterent to the tafficking of animals.
I'm glad to see that microchipping is now law but, like Valerie, I wonder how many will comply that wouldn't have already done so even if it was not law?
I fed a very skinny stray cat once but also put posters up all round the village, phoned all the local vets, did a door-to-door showing his photo etc. A few days later he was claimed and returned to his rightful 'owner', a little old lady who lived 4km away. It didn't stop him making a second trek back to my house though! When the little old lady died a few months later her daughters asked if I would adopt him... and that's how Zorro arrived. And was chipped and neutered two days later!! :]
A friend recently found an injured cat under his car (he denies running it over!), fortunately only with a mildy damaged leg. The vet (French) treated it for free, scanned it, found a puce and a telephone number - no answer - so David offered to take the car around to the address about 6 km away and make sure the owner hadn't moved. An old lady opened the door and cried with joy when she saw her cat - he'd been missing for a week.
So yes, microchip your cats - and with your dogs put a tag on their collars too. We've picked up stray dogs several times and it's so much easier if you can ring the owners immediately rather than waiting for the vet to open.
It also prooves the point about kind-hearted people who start feeding what they believe to be stray cats, if only this lady had checked the identification out with a vet or rescue facility! The cat could have been reunited and she could have adopted one that truly needed help!
Totally agree with you Lynn. I would be absolutely heartbroken if I lost either of my two and my only hope would be that they were found safe and traced back to me through the microchip. Aside from very happy reunions, it can also be a very useful tool to home in on those who may not treat their animals so lovingly. Of course there are going to be thousands of cases where people simply do not bother to comply with the microchipping rules but hopefully in the long run people will become far more responsible and treat animals with a little more respect.
Lovely story and I'm so pleased Nuts found a loving home away from home. Very lucky moggy.
Didn’t want to create a new topic, so post it here. Indirectly related.
I think governments everywhere could do something about the millions of stray dogs and cats around the world. Bhutan, an Asian Buddhist country, with the help of Humane Society International has set an example.
Bhutan has become the first nation in the entire world to have fully vaccinated and sterilised its stray dogs. And has had all pet dogs microchipped.
It can be done, and it should include cats as well. But can it be done in non-Buddhist countries? I doubt it, but maybe a lesson could/should be learned here.