While we understand it’s heartbreaking for an owner to receive news of a deceased cat, it offers the opportunity for them to gain closure. It will allow them to grieve the relationship they had with their cat and choose what they would like to do with their cat’s remains. If you work for a local authority, you should have access to a microchip scanner to be able to support this process.
You can read more about microchips and how they work here. The scanner used to read microchips is a battery-operated or chargeable device. It detects and decodes the signal produced by the microchip. The closer you are to the chip, the faster it will read. The scanner converts the signal into a unique, readable microchip number. It is important that the scanner is fully charged or has working batteries in it before it is used.
Microchips and readers use the same radio waves as TVs and computer monitors. When scanning animals, it should take place at least three feet from either of these items or you may find a reduction in the read range of the scanner.
Cats often wear magnetic collars to operate cat flaps. These will not damage the microchip but should be removed before scanning a cat as they again may reduce the read range.
This will depend on the brand and model of your scanner, so we’d recommend checking the product details. Detecting a microchip number depends upon a power impulse being sent to the microchip, which in turn is bounced back to the scanner for reading. Please ensure your batteries are healthy and inserted correctly into the device before you try to use it.
National Highways requires its service providers to have at least one microchip scanner available for use at depots. They must ensure their staff know how to use it correctly.
When a cat is microchipped, the chip’s unique number is registered with a microchip database company that keeps the contact details of the cat’s owner. You can find out which database a microchip is registered to here. It will give you the relevant contact details for the database company. If a cat has two microchips, you should contact both database companies.
Unless you are registered with the database company, they will not release the personal data of the cat owner to you. But they will be able to contact the cat owner on your behalf.
Unfortunately if a cat has a foreign microchip, this will need to be treated as if the cat has no chip.
National Highways requires animal remains to be bagged separately from any debris and taken to the local depot. The remains must be cold stored, where these facilities are available, for seven days or until the cold store is due to be emptied, whichever is sooner. If a potential owner for the cat hasn’t contacted you directly before the end of the seven-day period, the remains should be disposed of.
Yes. A cat owner may contact you in search of their missing cat. Having a written record of any deceased cats you’ve found will help you to assist them. As an example, if the contact details that the database company have for a cat owner are not up to date and they can’t contact the owner, having your own written record gives the best chance of being able to offer somebody closure as to what has happened to their cat, should they contact you directly.
condition of the cat’s body, for example intact, minor or major injuries
Stray cats can carry germs and diseases, some of which have the potential to spread to humans. We recommend wearing disposable personal protective equipment to handle all dead cats, which must include gloves and ideally oversleeves too. If the cat has an open wound, or if there is risk of you coming into contact with bodily fluids, it’s best to wear eye protection. Also wear respiratory protection, which will prevent you from breathing in any airborne particles. Once you have scanned the cat for a microchip, the cat’s body should be carefully double-bagged, and the bag labelled for storage.
Dead cats should be examined and stored well away from any live cats. Protective equipment, such as gloves, oversleeves, aprons and shoe covers, should be worn and disposed of between handling a dead stray cat and having any interaction with live cats. You should also ensure good hand hygiene too. All these measures will help prevent the transfer of germs and infection between cats.