Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to help reduce the breeding of cats for sale in order to tackle the increasing numbers of unwanted cats and kittens.

I consider that educating owners and prospective owners about responsible ownership is key to reducing the number of unwanted pets. The Government has worked with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG - a collection of animal welfare veterinary and animal keeping interests) who have been lobbying operators of internet sites to adopt minimum standards for the advertising of pet animals. Last year, Defra endorsed PAAG’s set of minimum standards, which many internet advertising sites have agreed to adhere to. PAAG have been monitoring internet adverts and this has resulted in the removal of over 130,000 irresponsible adverts (some of which are adverts for cats). The Government welcomes the opportunity to work alongside interested parties to improve owners understanding of keeping pet animals.