In order to register a cat with the Board of Agriculture, the animal must have an approved form of ID, such as a microchip or tattoo. Registration costs 40 kronor if carried out digitally and paying by Swish, or 100 kronor if owners opt to fill in a paper form instead or are not able to pay by Swish.

This payment fee is earmarked for upkeep and administration of the registry.

Anders Elfström, head of department at the Board of Agriculture, explains that this will improve the status of cats and provide better animal protection.

“There are also issues with lost and homeless cats,” he explained. “This is a measure to address that.”

Those who have already registered their cats using voluntary registers such as the SVERAK register are not exempt from the new scheme, but will need to re-register their pet in the Board of Agriculture’s system.

No fines

Elfström did make it clear, however, that there’s no rush for Sweden’s cat owners to start registering their pets. The Board of Agriculture are also expecting it to take some time for the majority of Sweden’s cats to be registered in the system.

“There’s not a massive rush,” he said. “We understand that not everyone will go in and register directly, but you should do it as soon as possible.”

Owners who forget to register their pets don’t currently risk punishment or a fine.

Sweden’s dog register was created around 20 years ago, with only around half of the canine population registered in the system at first. That number has now gone up to around 90-95 percent, Elfström said.

“It takes some time,” he admitted.

When the Board of Agriculture were first asked in an inquiry whether creating the register was a good idea, they said no, stating that there were more high-priority issues and that they did not believe it would succeed.

Elfström disagrees.

“Many are very happy that this register is actually being created. We can see that in comments on social media, for example.”

Sweden’s cat population is estimated at between 1.4 and 1.5 million animals.