Microchipping Your Pet

Why you should microchip your pet?
It’s every owner’s nightmare…your pet goes missing. It can happen to even the best of us; a delivery person leaves a gate open, a friend doesn’t notice the cat slip outside, something startles your dog and he runs off scared, etc.

The statistics are scary:

• More than 10 million pets get lost each year.
• One in three pets will go missing at some point in their lives.
• Approximately 22% of dogs and less than 2% of cats who are brought to a shelter without microchips get reunited with their families.

In the event your pet gets lost, a microchip may be his best bet to get back home to you. As helpful as collars and tags are, they can fall off or become hard to read. A microchip gives your pet a safe, effective and permanent means of identification.

What is a microchip?
It’s a tiny electronic device that stores your pet’s contact information. It’s about the size of a grain of rice and is inserted underneath the pet’s skin between the shoulder blades. It’s done with a needle so it doesn’t hurt much more than a vaccine and they do not need to be under anesthesia.

When your pet is found, he can be scanned easily for a microchip and the owner information obtained. We’ve had a lot of found pets brought into us to be scanned. Thankfully we’ve had a number of pets reunited with their owners because of their microchip.

Already have a microchip?
If your pet is already microchipped, be sure to keep your contact information updated with the microchip company. If you’re not sure where to call to update the information, bring in your pet so we can scan him and let you know who to contact.