Readers' letters

Dear Georgina,

I am contacting you after reading the article in The Veterinary Nursing regarding making ID chips compulsory.

I have been a veterinary nurse since 1994 and have also worked at some of the big charities including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and recently did some locum work for the RSPCA. What a difference it would have made on a daily basis if more of the animals had had microchips! I definitely feel over the years that microchipping has become more popular especially, I suppose, with the Pets Passport Scheme, but I strongly feel it should be made compulsory as part of being a responsible pet owner. How we go about enforcing this is a different matter, as I'm sure 90% of pet owners in private practices would do it, but what about the animals we never see or people on low incomes?

I recently went online to check my own personal details were up to date, as I have three cats all chipped. After preaching to clients to ensure their details are always correct I thought I should do the same! Everything was still current apart from a contact mobile number which I wanted to change. I was astounded to discover that to ONLY change my mobile number and nothing else, for my three cats it would cost me £10 per cat!