NEUTERING AND MICROCHIPPING

It seems to be the season for lost cats on the Helpline at the moment!

The main culprits are unneutered cats who are wandering off and making nuisances of themselves in their search for a mate. This is irritating to the people whose cats they fight and to the owners who are often beside themselves with worry as to where the cat has gone. The urge to mate often leads cats into dangerous situations where they cross busy roads or get into conflicts with other cats and they land up at the vet with bites, scratches and abscesses. At worst, fighting cats will pass on the FIV or FeLV virus through the act of mating or fighting (as it is spread by means of bodily fluids).

If you love your cat, minimise the chances of it fighting by getting it neutered. And ensure your neighbours do too!

Trips to the vet are both unpleasant and painful for the cats in question and expensive for their owners. Please try to persuade any contacts you may have with unneutered cats to get them neutered. There are still far too many unwanted cats in this area and the kitten season is just starting all over again!

If you are worried that your cat is a wanderer (despite being neutered!), the best way to ensure it stands every chance of coming home again is to get it microchipped. This is a quick and painless way of giving your cat an identity which links him directly to you. A chip the size of a grain of rice in inserted into the back of the cat's neck which bears a unique number.

If your cat turns up at a vet or with one of the rescue organisations, it is standard practice to scan to see if the cat has a chip which will enable the owner to be identified. So your cat should be back with you without delay.