An Abu Dhabi initiative requiring pet owners to register their cats and dogs has been hailed as a welcome step forward for efforts to improve animal welfare and reduce numbers of abandonments.
Residents who do not sign up to the mandatory Animal Owner System – which came into effect on February 3 – will face fines of Dh1,000, with a Dh500 penalty levied for failing to renew registration.
Dr Martin Wyness, a veterinary surgeon and chief executive of the British Veterinary Clinic in Abu Dhabi, said having tight regulations in place offers an important safety net for owners. “At its core, compulsory registration links a pet to an identifiable owner, vaccination history, and microchip,” he said.
With dogs, he said the welfare benefits of registration were “relatively clear”, and included improved disease control (because registration is linked to vaccination) and “a far better chance of being reunited with an owner if lost or injured”.
Caution over letting pets roam free
For cats, however, he described the picture as being more complex. The system does not, he indicated, suddenly make it safe for cats to roam, but does improve outcomes when, for example, a lost or injured cat is brought to a veterinary clinic.
“A registered, microchipped cat has a far better chance of being identified and returned home, rather than being treated as a homeless stray,” he said.
Registration, which is linked to Tamm, the Abu Dhabi government services app, may also discourage the abandonment of pets. If a cat or dog is not registered, the owner may be fined.
Even without the registration system, many pets in the UAE are in any case microchipped, and there is a database – microchipped.ae – where owners can register their pets for free, increasing the likelihood that they will be reunited if the animal is lost or stolen.
While the new registration system is just for Abu Dhabi, concerns about whether to let cats outside are a country-wide issue, as highlighted in a recent discussion on Facebook when a Dubai resident asked about recommendations for a GPS tracker for her pet, which had just arrived from Spain.
Many who commented warned that cats should never be let out in the UAE, with more than one saying that doing so was a “death sentence”.
Aside from dangers such as traffic and even deliberate cruelty that free-roaming animals can face, there have been cases of pet cats being picked up by contractors carrying out trap-neuter-release or trap-neuter-return (TNR) programmes for the authorities. Some reports have indicated that trapped cats may be euthanised.
In late 2023 more than 150 cats, thought to have been picked up off the streets, were dumped in the Al Falah desert area of Abu Dhabi emirate, which lacked food and water. At least 62 of the animals – some of which, rescuers suspected, were former pets – were found dead.
Pet perils of outdoor life
Aileen Diaz, a cat rescuer in Ajman who has helped hundreds of injured or ill animals, said that it was “not fully safe” to keep cats on the street in the UAE. The risks included, she said, “heavy traffic, extreme summer heat, construction, poisoning risks and public complaints”. “I would never place an indoor cat on the street or allow a pet cat to roam outdoors,” she said.
Another experienced rescuer, Fawaz Kawaan, who lives in Dubai, said that “there is no safe place for outdoor cats in Dubai”. He said that complaints could lead to cats being picked up by the authorities and released somewhere else.
“They are just moving the issue from one place to another,” he said. “It will never end until they consider a massive TNR campaign and build a proper cat shelter with an adoption plan and promote it online, like in Europe and other countries.”
In or out?
Dr Wyness said that decisions about whether a cat should be allowed outdoors should be made on an individual basis, as the animals vary in temperament and background.
Cats bred as domestic pets and raised indoors, he indicated, are more likely than others to be content without going outside, assuming they have a stimulating environment. For such cats, staying indoors could be an “excellent welfare outcome”, especially as it eliminates risks such as road accidents.
“However, cats that have grown up free-roaming, especially highly energetic or semi-feral individuals, can experience significant stress when confined indoors,” he added. “For some of these cats, permanent indoor confinement may not be fair or realistic, and can lead to behavioural and welfare problems.”
Amy Adams, another cat rescuer in the UAE, said that cats did not need to be outside, but instead require “stimulation, security and enrichment”, which may include vertical climbing space, scratchers, interactive toys, food puzzles, window perches and regular engagement.
She said that microchipping and GPS trackers – and, some may now argue, registration – may help locate a cat after something has gone wrong, but did not eliminate dangers.
“Collars can be removed, break off, or become caught and lost, which means trackers are not a reliable safeguard against the core risks of roaming,” she said. If owners do want their cats to go outside, Ms Adams recommended secure enclosed gardens or purpose-built outdoor enclosures or catios, which are outdoor enclosures.
“Ultimately, responsible pet ownership means reducing avoidable risk. In most urban environments in the UAE, that means keeping cats indoors or allowing only controlled, supervised outdoor access,” she said.
Caring communities
Separate from the question of whether pet cats should be allowed to roam freely, the UAE has colonies of feral or community cats, many of which have lived outdoors for generations and are, Dr Wyness said, “well adapted to local conditions”.
“When these cats are neutered, vaccinated, and reliably fed, they can and often do live stable, healthy lives on the street,” he said. “From a veterinary welfare perspective, well-managed trap-neuter-return programmes are often the most humane and practical solution for these populations.” He said that neutering reduces fighting, roaming and the spread of disease.
Echoing Dr Wyness’s view, Ms Diaz said that in low-traffic areas, such cats could “live relatively stable lives” when neutered, vaccinated and supported by the local community. “While not ideal, this is often the most realistic option given the limited number of shelters,” she said.
