Microchipping Your Pet

According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, only about 16 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats find their way back from shelters to their original owners.

While traditional pet identification methods are still recommended, they have limitations. Tags can fade, rust, or get scratched, making them impossible to read. Collars can come off or, even worse, get caught on something while your pet is wandering about, causing him physical harm. Fortunately, there is a relatively new technology available that may give pets a better chance of being reunited with their owners. It is called the microchip identification system, or microchipping.

How Microchipping Works

With microchipping, a veterinarian uses a hypodermic needle to inject a tiny computer chip containing a unique identification number just under your pet's skin between the shoulder blades. The number on the computer chip is then entered into a national database along with the corresponding contact information for your pet.

If your lost or stolen pet is found, any animal hospital, shelter, or humane society can use a microchip scanner to read the unique ID number contained on the chip. The veterinarian or shelter worker then phones the database or accesses it on a computer and enters the number on the microchip. The database matches the identification number to your name and phone number so that you can be contacted with the location of your pet.

Be sure to call or stop in for more information on microchipping!