Lords ‘must protect cats and dogs’

He admits to being a cat person, “though I should stress I am also very fond of dogs”.

His debate will pay tribute to the work of many charities working with domestic animals and examine if new legislation is needed.

“We have the Animal Welfare Act 2006, a great landmark piece of legislation, but a lot of the regulation on the breeding and sale of cats and dogs and the licensing of catteries and kennels were never brought forward,” Lord Black explains.

“We need to fulfil those commitments and look at the case for bringing together and codifying a lot of this disparate legislation relating to cats and dogs.”

Lord Black said that while researching the current legal position, he discovered there is “a lot more legislation and regulation that covers the welfare of dogs than there is of cats”.

He praises the work of Cats Protection, Battersea Cats and Dogs Homeand Blue Crossin dealing with the effect of the uncontrolled trade in cats and dogs on the internet.

“The biggest issue that we have, and all the charities face, is that supply outstrips demand. There are far more strays than there are families to take them,” Lord Black explains.

“When we deal with breeding, sale and neutering we will deal with this problem of supply.

“You have got to go back to the Pet Animals Act 1951 to find detailed legislation on this, and that was put on statute books at a time you used to use pet shops, but now pets are bought online.

“There is a lot of unethical breeding of kittens and puppies and it is totally unregulated by this legislation.”

Lord Black is hopeful that fellow peers will want to take part in the debate on Wednesday, and jokes he will “declare his interest” as a cat owner at the start.

“We need wholesale review of the legislation,” he adds.