Mandatory microchipping has improved reunification rates for lost dogs and enabled accountability for cruelty, but compliance gaps and poor database management limit its effectiveness.
Microchipping is a low-welfare-cost intervention with significant welfare benefits - reducing the suffering of lost animals and enabling accountability for owners of dogs involved in attacks or cruelty. The main welfare limitation is not the chip itself but database fragmentation and poor maintenance of records that mean chips cannot fulfil their traceability function. Mandatory cat microchipping is a positive welfare step that will reduce the suffering of lost, injured cats whose owners cannot be identified for treatment decisions.