VETS in Ludlow and south Shropshire and in Tenbury and the Teme Valley are urging people to make sure that their cats are microchipped.

June is National Microchipping Month and it is hoped this will encourage cat owners to help reduce the number of felines who are lost every year.

Currently 3.7 million cats (36 per cent, PDSA Paw Report 2017) are not microchipped, compared to just five per cent of dogs, and a microchipped cat has a much greater chance of being reunited with their owner.

Although mandatory microchipping of cats wasn’t included in new UK legislation last year, cats are more likely to go missing or get lost.

Since the UK dog microchipping law was introduced in April last year, 710,000 dogs were microchipped in the following 12 months (Defra).

Vets are hoping that raising awareness of the importance of microchipping cats will result in a similar boost in the number of felines being microchipped.