While the cat is the most present pet in French homes, identification is still not automatic for their owners. However, this innocuous gesture is essential to be able to find your animal in the event of loss.
Have you identified your cat? If this is not the case yet, it is not too late to do so, via a tattoo or a chip. Indeed, on its site, the Identification of domestic carnivores (ICAD), a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, recalls that it is a “legal obligation in France“a you”first act of responsible possession“.
This gesture helps to find his lost animal. While in 2022, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes was the region of France where the most pets were identified, more than 7,000 cats were lost there over the same period.
The identification of cats is an essential, mandatory issue, which makes it easier to find lost pets. • ©Candice Antiga / FTV
However, without this trace of identity, unrecognized animals end up in shelters, such as in that of the association for the protection of animals of Grenoble and Isère (WHAT).
Stéphanie Hauser, a volunteer at this centre, is worried about the current overcrowding in the cattery, as the summer holidays are approaching. “Already, we have a lot of animals that are abandoned on the side of the roads. So in addition, if people who care about their animals do not identify them, it saturates the shelters.“
As a result, faced with this large influx, the animals have to wait in the pounds until a place becomes available.
In addition, the identification of cats is a major issue since France is facing an overpopulation of this feline. As Colombine Feuvray, veterinarian at APAGI, explains, it is important to be able to recognize pet cats from those that are free: “It allows you to know if the free cats have already been sterilized or not, to avoid too much overpopulation and too much reproduction. And it helps to fight against the abandonment of animals.”
Identifying your cat in the ICAD file, the directory of domestic animals, has been an obligation since 2011. However, less than half of domestic cats are microchipped, compared to 90% of dogs. Pierre Buisson, veterinarian and president of the national ICAD file, explains this finding for several reasons: “On the one hand, the regulations are more recent. And above all, the relationship that people can have with their cat is more variable. […] But we have observed, for several years, an increase in the number of identified cats. So we are hopeful that identification, of cats in particular, continues to progress.“
According to the latest figures from the ICAD, a lost but microchipped cat is almost twice as likely to be found.
#cats #lost #year #AuvergneRhôneAlpes #identifying #pet #essential
