Now that the law requires all cats in England to be microchipped, any cat that is lost and then found should be easy to trace back to its owner. But even now, those who chipped their pets before it was mandatory have sometimes reaped the benefits.
A prime example of this was reported this month by Teesside Live. Three years ago Rachel Booth-Gardiner was left distraught when her cat Izzy mysteriously failed to come home and despite her best efforts to trace the missing feline, it appeared she was gone for good.
In fact, Izzy was alive and well and another family had taken her in, believing her to be a stray. But when they took her to Middlesbrough PDSA Pet Hospital to be chipped and registered in line with the new law, it was found she already had a chip in – which enabled her to be traced back to her real owner.
Ms Booth-Gardiner said: “We got the call we never thought we’d receive; it was an absolute shock! We couldn’t be happier to have Izzy back in our lives.”
This happy tale is not the only one of a long-lost cat recently being reunited with their owner. Mojo, a cat from Peterborough, was recently reunited with owner Alison after going missing in 2020.
Once again, Mojo’s true ownership was only discovered when he was taken for a check-up at a vet and a scan found the chip.
Alison, who volunteers for Cats Protection and originally acquired Mojo from their shelter when he was a kitten, said: “Microchips are invaluable in getting missing cats home,” adding: “It’s also important to spread the message that anyone who finds a stray gets them scanned for a chip.”
If you have just acquired a cat, these stories show how important it is to get them chipped as soon as you can, not just because it’s the law, but because you could avoid losing them for years on end.
