CFSG held a virtual Big Tent meeting today with over 130 attendees from across the dog and cat sector including vets, behaviourists, campaigners, groomers, breeders and retailers.
Attendees discussed the moves to reduce the number of pet dogs and cats that can be moved under the pet travel rules which apply to non-commercial movements, in order to prevent unscrupulous traders from exploiting pet travel rules and increasing the minimum age that dogs can be non-commercially moved or commercially imported into Great Britain as well as restricting the ability of traders to move heavily pregnant dogs into Great Britain both commercially and non-commercially.
Also discussed were the moves to introduce compulsory cat microchipping to ensure lost or stolen cats can be reunited with their owners as quickly as possible and the review of the current microchip database systems.
Attendees then broke into workshop sessions to answer questions on how we can improve breed health, how we can close down on illegal puppy and kitten sellers, tackle behaviour problems and their causes and support high welfare pet businesses. The sector have really shown themselves to be informed and determined to improve dog and cat welfare and we look forward to working openly with them going forward to get the right legislation and guidance in place.