What's Up with Microchips?
Updated: Jun 27, 2020
June is typically the month when we as professional petsitters see a rise in vacation clients. This year however with states slowly opening up from the pandemic we’ll see a less than normal travel volume and that may continue for some time. It’s been wonderful for our dogs to have us home however our cats feel very differently as we’ve really messed with their routine. That being said many vets and vet techs I’ve spoken with have seen an increase in business not because our pets are sick but because pet parents are home and doing more observation and more prevention which is a wonderful thing for increasing the longevity of our furry family members. Taking our pets to the vet for check-ups, bloodwork and vaccines if necessary give us excellent information and baselines for our pets’ health.
Another opportunity afforded us during the visit is a chance to check the information listed on the pets’ microchip. Is the chip found? Is the information up to date? But let’s go back a step, what is a microchip? It’s a small RFID inserted by a needle usually the size of one used to draw blood, under the pets’ skin which stores a unique ID number. The chip itself is about the size of a grain of rice. Once a scanner is placed over the area in which the dog/cat RFID chip is located, a radio frequency is emitted to send the ID number. Once obtained, a microchip registry is called and this ID number get used to retrieve personal information. It’s a highly effective way to ID your pet and get your contact information if he/she gets lost most veterinarians and shelters have scanning devices. Since it’s internal it’s not at risk of falling off or having to be placed on the animal like a collar or tag. June is National Microchipping Month and in anticipation of Independence Day, a day when shelters/ animal controI sees more lost pets come in than any other I urge pet parents to make sure their fur kids are chipped, the chip can be read and that all contact information is up to date. If your pet doesn’t have one please take this very inexpensive step to help be able to reunite him/her with you should they become lost.
While microchipping is really a must pet parents can invest in some additional simple ways to easily reunite our pets with us should they become lost. Collars with tags are highly effective if again, info is up to date, the tag is legible and has a phone number and address to return the animal. Another great solution is a collar with the pet’s name and phone embroidered on them like these GoTags reflective and personalized collars. Whatever method you decide to use please be certain to use it, a dog or cat without a collar is harder for a rescuer to secure and return and microchips are an amazing tool if your pets have one
