On January 1, 2023, a new “cat team” began to apply. More specifically, it was then law that all cats born after January 1, 2008 would be ID-marked and registered with the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
“That cats are labeled and registered makes it easier to reunite a lost cat with their owner. Then you also see which cats lack a home so that they can get help for any care and find a home,” writes the authority on its website .
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Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT
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Just over eleven days after the team came into force, about 140,000 cats were registered.
– We have a very hard pressure, said Anders ElfströmHead of Department at the Swedish Agricultural Agency, to P4 Blekinge when.
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Cat owners can pay a penalty
It is the County Administrative Board that is the supervisory authority and that decides on measures if a cat should lack labeling and be unregistered.
-It is primarily about informing the cat owner that they should ID-mark and register their cat in the Swedish Agricultural Agency’s register. If the cat still remains unmarked and unregistered, the cat owner may have to pay a fine, Anders Elfström has previously told News24.
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Anders Elfström. Photo: Press Bild/Anna Hållams/Agricultural Agency not equally high pressure on the cat register in 2024
Although you risk fines if you do not register and ID-mark your cat, the pressure in the register has decreased significantly. In 2024, there were 116,723 cats – ie about 300 a day – that were registered.
– It is positive that there are constantly more cats into the register, but based on how many cats it is expected to be in Sweden after all, we would like to see a slightly faster influx. For example, more cats were registered during the first two weeks when the register opened in January 2023, than throughout 2024, says Anders Elfström in a press release.
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Photo: Pär Fredin/Ttärnare 900,000 cats are missing in the register
But how many cats are really registered today? News24 asked Anders Elfström, who stated that there are just over 620,000 cats in their register at present. The number of registered cat owners amounts to 345,962.
However, more cats are missing in the authority’s register.
– An estimate of the number of cats in Sweden is about 1.5 million. However, the figure is uncertain as we have not previously had any registers, says Elfström.
It can thus be almost 900,000 cats that are not registered.
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