Did you know that 1 in 3 pets will go missing during some point in their lifetime? It’s a startling statistic, but it gets even worse. Of those that go missing, only 22 percent of lost dogs and less than 2 percent of lost cats that enter animal shelters are returned to their owners! April 14th through the 20th is designated National Pet ID Week to raise awareness about a simple way that you can help recover a lost pet. Without proper ID, 90 percent of pets never return home! It’s important to keep a collar with ID and rabies information on your pet, but collars can slip off or be taken off. There is one way to make sure that your pet has permanent identification: a microchip.
Here at Pet Dominion, we use the Home Again microchip because it uses a patented anti-migration feature that helps ensure that the chip stays between the shoulder blades on your pet’s body. This way, when a licensed veterinarian or animal shelter scans for a chip, they find it right away. The chip is very small, about the size of a grain of rice, and is implanted through an injection like a vaccine. It’s also relatively inexpensive and comes with a lifetime registration. To make the procedure completely pain-free, we recommend doing it during your puppy or kitten’s spay or neuter procedure.
It is important to note that the microchip is not a tracking device and does not store any personal information. When scanned, the chip simply provides an identification number that the veterinarian or animal shelter can input into a database to retrieve the owner’s information. Once your pet is microchipped, don’t forget to keep his or her record updated with your current contact information. If your pet hasn’t been microchipped, be sure to ask us about it during your next visit. And for more on microchips, check out our video from earlier this week.
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