A VETERINARY practice urged cat owners to microchip their pets before the law changes in England.

Orchard House Veterinary Centre, which has practices in Hexham, Stocksfield and Bellingham, urged cat owners in England to microchip their pet before the new legislation affects all cats aged over 20 weeks.

The new Microchipping of Cats and Dogs Regulations 2023 means owners have until June 10 2024 to chip their cat or face a fine of up to £500.

Under the new legislation, all keepers of owned cats must ensure that their pet is microchipped before it is 20 weeks old and that their contact details are stored and kept up to date on a pet microchip database.

The simple procedure involves inserting a small chip with a unique serial number under a cat’s skin, which can be read by a scanner and checked against a microchip database to reunite lost, injured or stolen pets quicker with their registered owner.

The Government announced in March 2023 that all cats must be chipped by the following June. Owners found not to have microchipped their cat by this date will have 21 days to have one implanted or will be fined.

A spokesperson from Orchard House Vets said: "Microchips give us the ability to quickly track down an owner in the event of their pet being presented to us. It is important to not only have your pet microchipped, but to also keep your contact details up to date. Every time you change your phone number or address, you should let your microchip provider know.

"We can scan your pet and look up the microchip details to see if the contact information is correct. We cannot stress the importance of microchipping your pet. We have sadly seen and heard of so many pets that go missing and it takes days to reunite them with their owner, simply down to no microchip being present."

Orchard House Vet's Stocksfield practice previously reunited a lost cat found near Prudhoe that had travelled from Sunderland, due to his microchip details being registered and up to date on the system.