Government urged to regulate cat breeding
Scottish folds are one of the pedigree cat breeds that can have breed-related health problems.
The Animal Welfare Committee, which advises the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Scottish and Welsh governments, has called for new legislation to regulate cat breeding.
The call is included in a new independent report on cat breeding produced by the the committee, which is made up of veterinary and animal welfare experts.
The committee wants to see licensing introduced that explicitly prevents the breeding of cats which suffer from health and welfare problems linked to breed characteristics.
The recommendations also include allowing only registered veterinary surgeons to undertake ultrasound scans of pet cats for pregnancy diagnosis and only after careful consideration has been given to welfare harms, and that all artificial reproductive procedures should be banned from being used in domesticated cats.
The committee’s report has been welcomed by Cats Protection. According to the charity’s Cats And Their Stats report for this year, sales of pedigree cats have overtaken sales of non-pedigree cats for the first time.
The charity is concerned that some genetic mutations in pedigree cats, such as that which causes the folded ears of Scottish fold cats, can also cause significant health and welfare problems. A petition launched by the charity calling for cat breeding to be regulated has attracted more than 50,000 signatures.
Madison Rogers, associate director of advocacy, campaigns and external affairs for Cats Protection, said: “Cats Protection has been calling on the government to urgently introduce regulations to licence cat breeding.
“Following engagement earlier this year with the Animal Welfare Committee, we are delighted to see they have released an independent report recommending that the government regulate cat breeding and ban the breeding of cats with known and harmful extreme traits.”
The full report from the Animal Welfare Committee can be read here.
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Joanne Webster, a professor of parasitic diseases at the RVC, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
