Companion Animals NZ update

sARAH OlsON, welfare officer CANZ

update from the NZ Companion Animal Register

In April, we celebrated the 2nd birthday of the new and improved NZCAR! t hanks to all the vet teams advocating for microchipping and registration.

We are committed to making the NZCAR more useful and easier to use. If you have feedback or features that you would like to see developed – reach out to us at info@animalregister.co.nz.

We constantly hear from veterinary teams how important it is that there is only one lost and found microchip database for animals in New Zealand, so it is our privilege to manage this service for you.

LostPet

We are currently redeveloping www. lostpet.co.nz and migrating the service to the NZCAR website. Losing a pet is a very stressful and emotive time. We want to make sure the process online is as streamlined as possible for guardians. t hese two complimentary services will be better managed and supported by the existing NZCAR team – meaning a more cohesive experience for guardians. t he LostPet.co.nz service is endorsed by mPI and SPCA for reporting lost and found companion animals. t his includes both cats and dogs but also horses, rabbits and other companion species.

NZVA Conference

We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the NZVA Conference Wellington in June! t his will be a great opportunity to meet and to discuss some the exciting projects we have: l Equi trace and equine focused microchipping with NZCAR registration l Shelter Register Aotearoa

Contact: saraho@companionanimals.nz l LostPet redevelopment l Accreditation – new Puppy Preschool standard

update from Companion Animals NZ

Shelter Register Aotearoa

Animal rescues and shelters in NZ are overrun with unwanted animals. Shelter personnel are stretched to the limit, with many being forced to close their doors. t he industry is unregulated and there is no concrete evidence available to quantify the size of the animal welfare ‘problem’ or understand trends in the industry.

Companion Animals NZ has established “Shelter Register Aotearoa”, an initiative to capture data on some basic metrics around animal numbers and movements within shelter/rescue organisations in NZ. t his information can then be used to help create positive outcomes for the animals and people involved in the industry.

We currently have 30 shelters that work with cats and dogs, participating the in programme. t he 9-months’ worth of data captured so far shows some interesting results. o f note, although perhaps unsurprisingly, the same trend is seen for outgoing, adopted and desexed cats. t his verifies the main reason cats leave the shelter is to be adopted, and all adopted cats are desexed before leaving. Although this is status quo for most shelters, it is encouraging to see the evidence.

How you can help!

We need more shelters from across NZ on board to help create an accurate and robust picture of what’s going in the shelter industry. Companion animal veterinarians work with shelters and rescues every day. t hey play a vital role in helping to control the overpopulation of unwanted animals and overseeing their health and wellbeing. to help us in our pursuit to understand, monitor and resolve these animal welfare issues, we urge companion animal veterinarians to encourage their clients working with cats and dogs in the shelter industry to join Shelter Register Aotearoa

For more information, please email welfare@companionanimals.nz l