Fern’s Law: Compulsory to scan & check microchips to reunite stolen dogs, cats.

Many missing microchipped pets are never reunited as it’s optional to scan & check microchip registration. It’s time veterinary professionals, authorities and rescues checked pet & keeper match on the original database at a pets 1st consultation or yearly checkup. It’s their only chance to get home

It is a legal requirement for all owners to microchip their dogs, and to enter the details onto a database. British Veterinary Association (BVA) best practice is that vets should scan dogs on first presentation at their practice, and at other regular intervals including prior to euthanasia, where euthanasia is deemed the appropriate course of action by the veterinary expert. BVA’s website sets out their position on scanning: https://www.bva.co.uk/News-campaigns-and-policy/Policy/Companion-animals/Microchipping/

The guidance includes advice on what a vet should do if the details of the person presenting the dog are different to what is recorded on the database, and what to do when stray or lost animals are brought to the practice by checking the microchipping databases in order to reunite the animal with their owner.

The Government considers that advice from BVA and RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) provides veterinary professionals with helpful guidance on conducting appropriate scanning and to protect the welfare of dogs. Ministers will continue to emphasise the importance of vets scanning pet animals when they are first presented to their surgery.

Since 6 April 2016, all dogs in England and Wales must be microchipped and registered on an approved database by the time they are eight weeks’ old. Since we made microchipping compulsory, the number of dogs microchipped has gone up from around 58% of all dogs in 2013 to over 90% of all dogs. This means that about 8.5 million dogs in the United Kingdom are microchipped. We also advise cat owners to get their cat microchipped and it was a manifesto commitment to introduce compulsory microchipping for cats. As part of this commitment we recently completed a Call For Evidence on cat microchipping which attracted over 3,000 responses. We are in the process of analysing the responses and will publish a summary of the responses together with a way forward in due course.

The Government is also considering proposals for the scanning of dogs by vets as part of the ongoing Post Implementation Review of The Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs