Jo Sparkman writes:

Every year at Four Paws we treat a number of cats who have been involved in road traffic accidents.

In most cases, the cats are brought in by their owners and, after treating their injuries, these cats will go back to their own home.

Some cats however, are not so lucky. We regularly treat cats who have been brought to us by a passerby. These cats look well-loved so we know they must belong to someone but we have no way of knowing who they are. We treat any injuries they may have, check them for identification, phone the local rescue centres to see if they have been reported missing, search our computer records for a match and log their details onto our lost and found board. After seven days, if we still don't know who they are, we start looking for a new home.

Cats may wander considerable distances and easily lose their collars so they need a permanent means of identification.

This is where the microchip comes in. A microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and can be implanted under the skin via a special needle.

Most types of animal can be microchipped. This can be done at any time, for example when your pet comes in for its annual vaccinations.

All veterinary surgeries and rescue centres will have scanners which will read the number on the chip. Once we scan an animal, we phone the data company which registers the chips, and are given details including the animal's name and address, medical problems (e.g. diabetes) and a contact phone number. We can then very quickly contact the owner and hopefully reunite them with their pet.

A new type of microchip - a Thermochip - is now available. When we scan a Thermochip it will tell us the animal's identification number and its body temperature; this can be very useful in all animals, but especially so in cats who are not giant fans of rectal thermometers! Both Thermochips and standard microchips are a suitable means of identification for the Pet Passport Scheme.

Some of our 'cats with no name' may stay at the surgery for a few weeks until we have found a good home for them to go to. Had these cats been microchipped, they would have been back in their own homes within a matter of days.