To not want to get my cat microchipped

[Geriatriccatowner]

My cat is 18. She’s an indoor cat and spends most of her days curled up on a bed.

She won’t attempt to go outside.

Why should I pay for this invasive procedure on a cat that doesn’t need it?

The new law says you will have 21 days to microchip your pet (presumably after a vet discovers it doesn't have one) before you face a fine. I think you should get your cat microchipped at the next regular vet appointment op.

The vet always scan their chip every visit even though it’s the same practice and one is 12 and the other 8 🤷🏻‍♀️

Most sensible answer so far!

Defra are on a mission to register cats (and chickens) it would seem.

Feral cats are not included in the legislation.

Apparently vets only have a local database and there is no national database that records microchips so it seems a bit pointless to me. Your cat could jump in a van and get driven 50 miles and taken to a vet there. The microchip would tell vets at the other end diddly squat other than that the cat has a microchip.

It's all very bizarre. Why this need to control and register everything?

You can be sure the answer is either money or disease control. Either microchip companies are making a fortune or the government are anticipating some sort of cat Covid.

Either way, I won't be microchipping my elderly cat!

My dog was scanned every year at the vets after the rules came in.

I can't understand why you've never had it done before!

9 times out of 10 it will be because the owner doesn’t want to be found. When my chipped cat went missing I still phoned around all the local vets and posted on various social media sites, even if she didn’t have a chip I would have found her that way, not just waited for someone to scan her and phone me.

Thanks for your replies. A lot of common sense

My cat is not insured and hasn’t been since she was 2. I was paying quite a lot in pet insurance and when my cat had an accident in the house the insurance wouldn’t pay out, I had to find a couple of thousand for an operation. Since then Icancelled insurance and put money aside instead. So I won’t need her microchipped for insurance purposes.

When we go on holiday a family member feeds and looks after our cat. I don’t use catteries.

will enquire about cost of microchipping, I honestly doubt she is going to go wandering, when she did used to go outside she stayed in my garden and was itching to get back in almost immediately, or asleep on a garden chair.

im wondering how fines will be issued for cats without chips

The thing is, what's not invasive for a young, healthy kitten is potentially incredibly traumatic for an elderly cat that's likely suffering from pain and senility/dementia.

I think it’s also how do you define invasive. It’s a needle big enough to inject a grain of rice into a cat. Of course it hurts them, it would hurt us! but it is over and done with quickly . Probably quickly forgotten about in a young cat, still ideally done when cat under anaesthetic for other reasons like being spade.

@aodirjjd yes, our vet refused to chip our kitten until he was under anaesthetic for his neuter.

I wouldn't be putting an 18 yo cat under anaesthetic for anything, really, let alone something as minor as a microchip!

I guess the question is, if someone finds out, can you pay the fine? Or would you struggle? Or would it make you go into debt? If the answer is ‘no, £500 is a pain to lose but I won’t lose sleep over it’ then don’t do it.

TBH (nicely) your cat is 18. You’ve managed so far. Why bother now if you can afford not to?

My young cat is now and elderly one suffering from pain and I can tell you she would be fine. However, I wouldn’t get an indoor cat done but wait until I had to take them to the vet for something else and get it done then, if I and the vet thought it necessary.

One of our cats was microchipped at age 14 as it wasn't a requirement until then. She didn't like it when she was injected but she fights harder when we're doing the spot-on. She's had no issues.

I would talkto the vet about it when you take her in for something else, or phone them and ask.

Not all cats are the same, though. What one elderly cat would take in their stride could potentially kill another.

This is incorrect. There are many databases that microchips get recorded onto, and they're national so, yes, if a cat travelled from Portsmouth to Glasgow in a van a vet in Scotland could look up the owner's details.

I feel coerced into telephoning the vet tomorrow to make an appointment for our elderly cat to be microchipped. Both the fine and being told that the vets will not treat her if we don't have this done. Cats belong to themselves, they choose to stay with us. They choose their owners.

Just to dispel a few myths on here. Vets are not the microchip police! Nothing will happen if you don't chip your elderly cats. The most a vet can do is recommend that you do. They DO NOT report those who aren't, it's not their job.
Also as someone who has chipped hundreds of cats and kittens I can say the majority don't even notice it being done (especially if you feed them likilix at the same time!). Dogs tend to be a bit more dramatic!