A microchip for your pet can mean the difference between lost and found. Although tags and collars are important, they can tear or slip off. With microchipping, we inject a tiny computer chip—about the size of a grain of rice—just under your pet’s skin, between the shoulder blades. The microchip number is entered into an international database, which can be read by a microchip scanner if your pet is lost and picked up by a veterinary hospital, humane society or an animal shelter. If your contact information is up-to-date, the hospital or humane society that found your pet can contact you and reunite you with your pet.  According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), “A study of more than 7,700 stray animals at animal shelters showed that dogs without microchips were returned to their owners 21.9 percent of the time, whereas microchipped dogs were returned to their owners 52.2 percent of the time. Cats without microchips were reunited with their owners only 1.8 percent of the time, whereas microchipped cats went back home 38.5 percent of the time.”

Many shelters microchip animals before they adopt them out. Make sure to ask if this is the case with your new pet. We can also scan for a microchip and help you update your contact information in the microchip database.