ALTHOUGH IT’S OPTIONAL, MICROCHIPPING CAN INCREASE THE CHANCES THAT YOUR PET WILL
RETURN HOME TO YOU
if they ever go missing.
No matter how much we as pet owners do to keep our pets safe, sometimes accidents happen. Your child may not close the sliding door all the way without your knowledge, and you may not realize it until you notice your cat is missing. Or your dog’s collar might snap after they pull away from you to chase a rabbit during your morning walk.
While a tag on a collar is a great form of identification for a lost dog or cat, many pets don’t wear them every single day. Plus, there’s no guarantee the collar won’t break if your pet gets stuck on something while they’re roaming around your neighborhood, the woods, or wherever they got lost. That’s why Best Friends Animal Hospital offers HomeAgain microchipping to give pets an added layer of identification that won’t break off. In fact, your pet doesn’t even need a collar to be microchipped.
How Does Pet Microchipping Work?
Microchipping is a process that involves inserting a tiny, scannable device that’s about the size of a grain of rice under the surface of the skin, near the shoulder blades. This device contains a specific ID number, which is entered into a nationwide database and linked to your contact information. If a lost pet is found and brought in to a veterinary facility, the chip can be scanned and traced back to you so that you’ll be contacted.
The process of inserting the microchip is quick and painless, similar to the process of vaccinating a pet, and the insertion can be completed during your pet’s wellness exam. Although anesthesia is not required, your pet can be microchipped while they’re under anesthesia for surgery or a dental cleaning.
Microchipping as a means of identification for lost pets is a very effective option. In fact, the American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that more than 50% of lost dogs with a microchip get returned to their owners, compared to 22% of unchipped dogs. For cats, only 2% get returned if they’re not chipped while 39% get returned if they are chipped.
