Cat owners will soon be required to chip and register their pets

Pet owners will soon be required to microchip their house cats and to register them. It is not yet known when the measure will be introduced, said Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality Minister Piet Adema to the Tweede Kamer.

Implanting a microchip will make it easier to return cats that have been found after going missing. The number of stray cats should also be reduced in this way, Adema said on Thursday.

There are approximately 2.9 million domestic cats in the Netherlands, of which more than 60,000 are reported missing each year. It is not exactly known how many stray cats there are.

The plans for a national chip and registration obligation are now being worked out in more detail. “For example, there are challenges with regard to financing for setting up and maintaining the registration system,” said Adema.

In 2018, current coalition party D66 came up with a proposal for a compulsory microchip for cats. The party then pointed out that fewer stray cats also means fewer dead birds. In a letter to the Tweede Kamer at the time, 35 municipalities also asked the national government to mandate microchipping cats.

In her response at the time, Carola Schouten promised to look into the chip requirement and the cat problem. Schouten was the Minister of Agriculture under the previous Cabinet, and is now the Minister for Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions.