News

To mark the start of National Microchipping Month, Blue Cross is urging pet owners to make sure their animal is chipped and their details up to date.

We take in hundreds of stray cats and dogs every year and, while many are much-loved pets that simply wandered off, we’ve got no way of reuniting them with their devastated owners.

Either the pet hasn’t been microchipped or their family have moved or rehomed them without updating their details on the database.

Lost and found

Kitten Little Zeb is just one example of how a beloved pet can so easily go missing.

She was found hanging around someone’s garden and brought to us as a stray and, because she wasn’t microchipped, we couldn’t trace her owner.

Animal welfare assistant at our Torbay rehoming centre, Kelly Hennequin, says: “She clearly had a home as she was so friendly and loving. Someone had loved this cat very much.”

Little Zeb spent some time at our centre and was getting ever closer to being rehomed to a new family.

But we managed to find her owner thanks to a stroke of luck and, after days of heartbreak, she was able to pick up her kitten in the nick of time.

Kelly says: “We arranged for Little Zeb to come back to the centre to be microchipped so, if she ever strays again, she can find her way home.”

Keeping your pet safe

If your pet is microchipped, don’t forget to let the microchipping company know if your details change.

If your pet isn’t microchipped, we’re holding events around the country this month where you can get it done at low cost. Find your nearest microchipping event.