Compulsory microchipping of cats and dogs...

[Fran]

http://www.cawg.org.uk/page.php?pid=30



Your views?

[Mags]

Definately a good idea, it would hopefully, lessen the number of strays and abandoned cats and dogs, make it a lot easier to reunite owner and pet ...... and result in fewer poor animals taken into Rescue.

Of course you will still have the problem of ferals ........ but definately all pet cats and dogs should be chipped.

I would also suggest a fine for any owner found to have deliberately abandoned their "pet"........

[dinahsmum]

Good idea.

If I ruled the world (cue music) I would go further. I would have cat and dog 'licenses' or 'permits', which would come in at £50 per annum cats, £100 a year dogs. This would allow (enforce) 'free' neutering, at least one vet visit per annum and annual vaccinations and worm/flea/tick etc treatment. It would also give 'free' initial consultations (?up to 3 conditions per year) and (at end of life) free euthanasia and cremation. The vets would be given authority and responsibility for enforcement and fee collection, backed up by the force of law. The annual licence for unneutered animals would be huge - say £500, maybe more.
The figures would have to be looked at to ensure it stacked up - I think it could.

Now wouldn't that change things? Every cat a wanted cat, to amend an old slogan.

I'm really what this world needs - a benign dictator! :)

[Fran]

Hmmmm, I'm all in favour of compulsory microchipping and I wouldn't in theory be against your idea of a license too DM. But I wouldn't be impressed if I was forced to neuter my pets :? I breed from my Labs and it is always done absolutely to the letter and more, all health tests etc. etc. However, At the amounts you have quoted per license, I would save a fortune over the year taking into account all the inclusive benefits :-D

[charliebubs]

I agree that compulsory chipping is a great idea. I wouldn't own an animal without a chip now anyway, but so many people still do.
I'm in agreement with Fran about the neutering though. There are good breeders out there who breed their animals exactly to the letter of the guidelines and to better the breed. I hope to be one of them too!
But a licence for pets isn't a bad idea.

[alexgirl73]

Hmm it's a difficult one I think. If you are going to let your cats out then yes, definitely, but for those with house cats who don't even get in to the garden then I'm not so sure. I have a low income and couldn't afford to pay for microchipping for my 3 or afford a licence fee, yet I will make sure that they have medical care if I have to eat beans for a month, so it would make it almost impossible for people in circumstances like my own to actually be able to have a pet at all!!

[dinahsmum]

I think the animal charities should be able to turn their attention to helping people on low incomes/who fall on hard times/poor pensioners etc to have a pet. After all, they shouldn't be dealing with rescues/cruelty cases etc in anything like the numbers there are now, so will be able to work 'differently'

[smudgley]

Compulsory microchipping would never work. :?

[Fran]

Compulsory microchipping would never work. :?

Why do you think it wouldn't work Smudgely??

[smudgley]

Because I don't think people/breeders would get their pets done, yes the responsible ones would, but then they probably already do, the others wouldn't & how could they enforce it?

[Fran]

Because I don't think people/breeders would get their pets done, yes the responsible ones would, but then they probably already do, the others wouldn't & how could they enforce it?

I do see a lot of complications with enforcing this and it may never be a 100% failproof but I think it could be the way forward..

[smudgley]

Oh Yes, it's the way forward & has got to be a step in the right direction. But it's the irresponsible people that won't get them done & it's their pets that will cause problems, trouble, go missing etc.

[smudgley]

Look at the last time they tried to bring in new legislation with the PBT, to ban the breed. Things were put in place, sensible precautions to ban the breed in this country, lots of people had theirs neutered & registered & microchipped, but lots of people didn't - instead they continued breeding them. :roll:

[Elaine]

I think in theory its a great idea but, as with dog licences in the past, impossible to police.

[Shadowdh]

I agree in principle with the microchipping... every animal at point of sale (or rescue) should have it... but I dont agree with enforcement of neutering or fees... (although I do believe that responsible owners who arent interested in breeding should get their pets neutered)...

[ATD]

deff a good idea, less strays and less petnapping becuse you details would be on the data base connected to the chip rather than on the actual animal
ATD xxx

[vicki]

It would most certainly make my job easier if all pets were microchipped! The number of stray animals, cats in particular, that we are never able to find their owners makes me dispear sometimes! I think microchipping should be compulsory for all pet owners, it should be illegal to not chip. I think breeders should microchip puppies and kittens before they are sold on to their new homes, but then if this was enforced only the 'good' breeders would follow this.
If we trace/find the owner of a non chipped pet then we make the owners pay for microchipping before allowing them to leave with their pet, some winge about the £20 it costs, we politely explain that is nothing compared to the £50 to get it back out of the cat and dog shelter or the possible £2000 fine for the animal having no ID on if the dog warden had picked it up!

[Emm]

well the vet can't find the microchips in my cats - and I haven't had my dogs done for this reason but they do wear ID tags.

[vicki]

Microchips dont disappear?! They can on rare occassions move around the body, has your vet scanned their whole body? Including all the way down the legs? Very strange! Were they chipped with you? If you were told they were chipped and your vet cant find them maybe they werent?! Do you have paperwork? Sorry all the questions, I just cant imagine not being able to find a chip if there is definately one placed =)

[Kathryn]

Hi, think compulsory mc is the way forward but cannot see how it would be inforced. The biggest problem with MC strays is owners not keeping there contact details up to date, or the chip isn't registered in this country thanks to the pet travel scheme this is quite common.
As for chips not functioning well call me neurotic but i do have my own chip reader & check everybody's chip monthly, Brogan was chipped at 5mths & up to 2yrs of age chip was present & reading well then suddenly no beep aaah, had her x-rayed - no chip so were did that go? nobody had an explanation, she was re chipped & a yr later it is still ok.
Maybe if the cost of chipping was included in vaccinations & was done at the 1st vacc it might help as i think most people seem aware that pups & kits need at least one set of jabs ? but then again.
X K

[vicki]

We find peole dont like the idea of that big needle being stuck in their pet awake. We actively book microchips to be done at the same time as second vacc, we are also running a new scheme that allows your pet to be chipped at a discounted rate if they are having another procedure done, ie a neuter or other op. This is proving really popular among the clients and almost all the non chipped pets are leaving the practice chipped :D

[miki]

In our country dogs born after the year 2003 must by law have a microchip, but cats don't have to...
I think it is more difficult to control cats because there are a lot of semi feral cats and even if you know who the owner is, you don't have any proof...
About annual fees for keeping cats...I must say I don't agree with it that much...For people we have free doctors and medications here in SLO but the problem is that some people are spending more money then they are paying to support this system. And than there are huge waiting lines (for example if you are diagnosed with cancer you need to wait for up to a year to get treatment. Of course if you have money, you can speed up the process. While the idea of free doctors that would also treat poor people is good, in reality it just doesn't work. Cause people are wating for so long that a lot of them die before they are given any treatment...The ones who can afford it go to doctors in Austria or to private doctors.
And if that goes for people - what do you think would happen to animals?
Communist ideas are good by itself but sadly they never seem to work well in practice...
I also wouldn't agree about spaying all the cats...(My cats are spayed). I recently read a report from Australia and it was very interesting. They spayed all the pet moggies and now if they want moggies they can only get kittens from feral cats who are genetically different from pet cats. These cats are more wild, not so friendly and I mean why should you want a cat like that? (I am talking about feral cats that have been feral for more generations).
The problem is that irresponsible owners wouldn't spay their cats anyway and ferals would still remain. I am all for spaying feral cats ( I help my local shelter to catch them so they can be spayed and returned back), but not necessarily for spaying all pet cats that aren't purebred.