Owners of a small animal rescue group in Kent are delighted to have seen their idea for a new national cat chipping program come to fruition.

Pet owners in England must have their cats microchipped under new laws introduced on Monday (June 10).

Natasha and Dee McPhee are delighted their idea has finally become law after first planting the seed for the proposal almost six years ago.

The couple, who are celebrating the Medway-based animal welfare organisation’s 10th anniversary this year, said the scheme first came about as they found themselves regularly finding lost cats and being unable to reunite them with their owners.

“We thought there needs to be the same laws introduced for cats as there are for dogs,” Natasha said. “We are absolutely stoked it has finally come to fruition.”

She said they have had support from charities Cats Matter and Cats Protection.

“Everyone from the collective cat community deserves a pat on the back,” she said. “They have all had some input and it has definitely been a long time coming.”

The 40-year-old said she was encouraged to put her plans down on paper by a former MP who agreed to take it to Parliament.

Originally, she said the idea was met with doubt by many who thought it would be impossible to police but she felt it was a necessary way to ensure lost or stray animals could be reunited with their owners and returned home safely.

“We have found thousands of feral cats we find and have to get microchipped,” she said.

Before the law came out for dogs to be microchipped in 2016 Natasha said only two in 10 actually were, but within just a few months of the law being passed nine out of 10 were microchipped.

She added: “It might not be easy to police but people generally want to uphold the law and if you love your animal then you want them to come back to you whether they are alive or deceased.”

A petition called Harvey’s Law went to Parliament in 2015 asking for legislation to enforce a formulated process to ensure the compulsory scanning of all domestic animals retrieved from the highways.

The petition, which received more than 12,000 signatures, was eventually dismissed without parliamentary discussion.

But Natasha said it is no good fighting to make such a law compulsory when it was often highly likely the deceased feline will not have a microchip.

“I’s not going to help unless they have those details to scan,” she explained.

As of this week, cat owners must now have their pets microchipped or risk a fine of £500 under strict new rules.

Microchipping a dog or a cat means inserting a chip, which is generally around the size of a grain of rice, under their skin.

When that chip is scanned it can bring up the relevant contact details for the animal’s owner.

The cost of the procedure is usually around £25.

Under the new legislation, all owned cats and kittens must be microchipped before reaching 20 weeks of age with contact details stored and kept up to date through an approved pet microchipping database.

Those cat owners who have already had their animals microchipped are being urged to check that all contact information is up to date.

Anyone now caught with an animal that doesn’t have a chip will be given 21 days to have one implanted before facing the fine.