Published: Less than 20 min ago
Is the cat out and about? Now the Swedish Board of Agriculture is launching a new service that makes it possible for finders and authorities to trace the loss.
On January 1, the new law on mandatory marking and registration of cats entered into force. From 2023 onwards, the country’s cats must be ID marked and registered with the Swedish Agricultural Agency.
Now the authority also offers the possibility to look up a cat owner’s information via a search service on the Swedish Agency for Agriculture’s website.
– It’s about 96 percent who say they want it to be seen publicly, says Anders Elfström, head of department at the Swedish Agricultural Agency.
The service is primarily aimed at authorities, but it also makes it possible to find stray cats:
If the owner of the cat has agreed to be searchable for private individuals, the cat’s and owner’s details are displayed. If the owner has not chosen to display the information, only the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the county administrative board can see the registered information.
During 2024, the police and the Swedish Customs Service will also have direct access to the register.
The service also makes it possible to change ownership and deregister your cat if it dies.
According to Anders Elfström, around 325,000 cats have entered the register since the law came into force. However, the total number of cats in Sweden is unclear:
– We don’t know how many there are, but we expect it to be somewhere between 1.3 and 1.5 million, he says.
Facts
This applies to cat owners
On January 1, a change in the law came into force which involves the establishment of a cat register. As of January 2, the Swedish Agricultural Agency’s e-service opened to register cats.
To register your cat, it first needs to be tagged either with a chip or ear tattoo by a vet. You can also go to an ID tagger with approved training.
Anyone who has cats outside the household or for commercial purposes must register the establishment where the animals are kept.
Kittens must be tagged and registered before they are four months old.
Senior cats, born before January 1, 2008, do not need to be tagged.
Source: Swedish Agency for Agriculture
Read more