Microchips can help your pet find its way home

Published on June 30th, 2014

MD1It’s every owner’s worst nightmare – a lost pet. Accidents can happen to even the most careful people; a gate left open by a repairman, an indoor-only cat slips out the door while relatives are visiting, a loud noise, such as fireworks, scares a pet into running. According to PetAmberAlert.com, more pets go missing around the July 4th holiday than any other time of year.

More than 10 million pets get lost annually. Without any type of identification, 90% of lost pets are not reunited with their owners. As helpful as collars and tags are, they can easily fall off or can become hard to read over time. A microchip gives your pet a safe, effective and permanent means of identification. Microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and are implanted under the skin using a needle, usually between the shoulder blades. It’s a fast, safe procedure that is done while the pet is awake.

When a pet is brought to a clinic or an animal shelter, a scanner is used to locate the microchip and obtain owner information. The owner is then contacted and the pet returned home. One thing to remember, if you have adopted from a rescue, received the pet from a friend or have moved, you need to update your contact information with the microchip company. Many lost pets have microchips still registered to a local shelter or a previous owner. This makes it more difficult to locate the current owner. If your pet currently has a microchip and you’re unsure if the information is current, we can scan him/her to get the microchip number and give you the appropriate information to get it updated.

Holden1At PPAH, we have many lost pets brought in to us to be scanned for a microchip. Because of registered microchips, we’ve been able to be a part of some very happy reunions. Last year, a cat was found and brought to us. The cat had a microchip and we were able to locate the owner.  Somehow, the cat travelled here from Mokena, IL. That’s almost 40 miles from here!

We want every lost pet to be able to find their way home. Call to schedule an appointment with one of our technicians to microchip your pet today!

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