Why using a microchip also for cats?

The subcutaneous microchip to identify dogs when they run away from home, are stolen or, unfortunately, abandoned, has been compulsory for a long time.
Recently, this simple monitoring tool has become available also for use on our feline friends too. It’s also required when you want to bring your cat with you while travelling outside Italy. In this case, you will have to fill in a real passport with your cat’s data. In order to follow the correct procedure, you’ll have to ask your vet.
However, using microchips also for cats is a really good way to protect them, especially if they’re used to go outside and sometimes get away from home for many days.

How does the microchip for cat work?

A microchip is a small circuit, more or less as a grain of rice, which is inserted under skin between cat’s shoulder blades through a puncture. Microchip insertion doesn’t generally require any anesthesia and has no contraindications, and you can do it when your cat is 5-8 weeks old. The microchip contains a file with the owner’s personal details, which can be very useful to bring the cat back to them if she gets away from home. It is not really a GPS system, that is it can’t show geo-localisation of your cat, but, in case someone finds her, the data contained in the chip can prevent her from being brought to a cat shelter.

Why your cat gets away

There are many reasons why your cat may get away: her curiosity and feline instinct, which push her to explore new places, the mating season, a sudden fear, other animals the cat perceives as a danger, but also loud noises (e.g. New Year’s Eve fireworks). An unexpected change in cats’ everyday life, which are generally routine pets, can push them to get away and then not find the way back home. In this case, using a microchip gives the owner more chances of a “happy ending”, that is to find and bring back home their four-legged friend.