While cats tend to be cheaper to care for than dogs, failure to comply with upcoming regulations mean your moggy could saddle you with a hefty £500 fine.
Martin Lewis has issued an ‘urgent’ warning to cat owners in England, ahead of new microchipping laws due to come into place next month.
In his weekly Money Saving Expert newsletter, the consumer finance guru explained: ‘From Monday June 10, by law, in England (doesn’t apply to rest of UK) all cats aged 20+ weeks must be microchipped and registered on a database (it became law for dogs in 2016). Yet over 20% aren’t yet.’
A report from the PSDA found 24% of UK adults own a cat. That calculates to more than 2 million un-chipped cats in England alone, with millions of owners at risk of a penalty.
If you’re one of them, you’ll have 21 days from when the law is introduced to ensure your pet is microchipped, which gives you until July 1 to get everything sorted.
Those who miss the deadline face fines of up to £500 – a whole lot less than what it costs for the microchip itself – and could forfeit their ability to make a claim for loss or theft on their pet insurance.
According to Cats Protection, you can expect to pay between £20 and £30 to have your cat chipped, although this depends on the location of the vet or clinic, the type of microchip used, and any additional services included in the procedure.
Some insurers will offer a discount as part of your policy, and vets often include a microchip in their health plans. Additionally, certain microchip companies will offer free insurance (for a limited time) or other perks if you choose them, and if your cat is a rescue, the cost may have been covered in your adoption fee.
If you’re struggling to pay, you may be able to get your cat microchipped for free or at a reduced rate from your local council, rescue centre or cat charity.
Speak to your vet for details – ideally as soon as possible as demand will be high –or contact Blue Cross, the RSPCA or local cat charity for advice.
The legislation, passed last year, is designed to help return lost or stray pets to their owners, as thousands go missing each year.
Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said: ‘Microchipping is by far the most effective and quickest way of identifying lost pets.
‘As we’ve seen with dog microchipping, those who are microchipped are more than twice as likely to be reunited with their owner.’
How does microchipping work?
Petplan states: ‘A microchip is a small electronic chip, roughly the size of a grain of rice, which is implanted under your pet’s skin and contains a unique number that can be read by a scanner.
‘Your contact details are logged on a central database, so should your pet ever go missing, it can be scanned and returned home quickly and safely.’
The procedure to microchip a cat is quick and no more painful than an injection, with the chip lasting a lifetime between the animal’s shoulder blades.
It’s important to keep your details up to date so you can be contacted if your pet goes missing. Some database companies offer an enhanced lifetime service for an additional fee, with benefits like unlimited personal detail changes, and assistance if your cat gets lost or stolen. Others charge each time you update your details.
If you rehome your cat, you’ll need to contact your microchip database; they’ll give you a form or code to pass on to your cat’s new owner, enabling them to change the details on the chip. This process ensures your pet’s chip can’t be changed without your permission (for example if they were stolen).
That wasn’t the only advice Martin offered to pet owners this week, though.
The Competition and Markets Authority recently launched a formal investigation into vet bills, and pet insurance prices are rising rapidly. As such, it’s important to check you’re not paying over the odds for your policy – and that you have the right level of cover.
The newsletter recommended cat and dog owners alike combine comparison sites to get as many quotes as possible in the shortest time, saying: ‘Try as many as you’ve time for, as they search different insurers and sometimes have different prices, and most let you get multi-pet quotes.’
Don’t forget to check deals elsewhere too, as big providers like Petplan and Direct Line don’t appear on comparison sites, and companies like Animal Friends and Waggel may offer promo deals only if you go direct through them.
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