Cat chipping is now mandatory in most of the UK, which is good news for more reasons than just if your cat wanders off and doesn’t return home.
While sometimes this is a case of feline misadventure or even a case of mistaken identity as the animal ends up with owners who mistake it for their own cat, there are, sadly, instances when something more malevolent is going on.
The alarm was recently sounded in the Welsh borders as a spate of cat disappearances has occurred in the Garth Owen area of Newtown, Powys. There have been ten cases in the last year, mostly over the past few months.
If cats are chipped, they can be traced, but of those that have been found, several have appeared quite some distance from Newtown, scattered across mid-Wales and neighbouring English counties like Shropshire.
This has led police to suspect these may not be coincidental disappearances, with the cats in question unlikely to have all wandered long distances. One owner has lost three cats, which has added to the suspicions.
While the police investigate the matter, such instances should act as an extra reminder not just to be legally compliant and have your cat chipped, but to update the chip if circumstances change, such as if you move home.
Of course, there is also the problem of what happens if a cat goes missing and you subsequently move, as you can no longer be directly traced to that address. In such cases, it makes sense to leave contact details with the new occupants in case your pet does turn up.
If the missing Newtown cats have indeed been stolen by organised criminals, they may not be the only ones.
Last month, Essex Live reported that former model Jodie Marsh, who now lives on a farm in the village of Lindsell, has claimed that she has had three cats stolen since moving there.
