Petition · past parliament · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Make mandatory for cats to be neutered and chipped before allowed to roam.

Closed 54 signatures

What the petition asks

Cat owners who wish for their cats to roam outside must take the responsibility to neuter and microchip all owned cats; with valid registration, before letting cats roam outside the confinements of the home, to help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, and to help reunite found missing cats.
An estimated 2.7 million animals enter UK animal shelters each year. Of these, 1.2 million are cats. There are many reasons why a cat ends up in a shelter, some of these cannot be helped. To help drastically improve this situation, it must be mandatory for all cat owners to microchip each cat owned keeping registration details up-to date, with each cat being neutered before allowed to roam in the wild. This will benefit the welfare of all cats allowed to roam and reduce the demands on shelters.

Timeline

4 Nov 2022 Petition opened for signatures
4 May 2023 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 54
Status Closed
Department Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Opened 4 Nov 2022
Closed 4 May 2023

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.