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Microchipping your pet
Compulsory MicroChipping Of Dogs In England, Wales & Scotland
Dogs
On 6th April 2016 it became a requirement for all dogs over the age of 8 weeks in England, Scotland and Wales to be permanently identified with a pet microchip and registered on a compliant microchip database.
To summarise:
-All dogs must be microchipped by the age of 8 weeks, or before transfer to new owner.
-Breeders must microchip the dog before it is sold to a new owner.
-All Breeders must be the first registered contact on microchip database.
-The owner must ensure that contact details are up-to-date on microchip database.
Failure to register your dog could result in a fine of upto £500
Cats
Cat owners are currently not legally required to microchip their cats. However, under new government guidelines it will soon be compulsory for cats to be registered on a microchip database.
Although, not currently required by law, we recommend that cats are microchipped so that they can be reunited with their owners should they go missing.
Did you know....8 out of 10 stray cats coming into cats protection centres do not have microchips. Sadly, this means that owners are unaware of their pets location and cats cannot be reunited with their families.
PETtrac (microchip database) regularly faces the problem of invalid owner/keeper contact details. This is where the owner or keeper cannot be contacted because the details recorded against the Microchip have not been updated. This is an upsetting and preventable problem as often owners need to be contacted in times of emergencies.
Good news!! PETtrac is aiming to raise awareness of this problem by running a campaign to encourage pet owners to update their contact details on the PETtrac Database. They even offer a free email reminder that allows you to update your contact details every year.
Please help us to reunite pets to their owners by updating your contact details.