Keep Lost Pets Safe With Microchips
Published October 10, 2011
Flickr User pixieclipx
Microchips used for identification can help keep pets safe before they are lost.
Remember Willow, the calico kitty who went missing from her Colorado home, then was miraculously found five years later in New York City? She has to be one of the luckiest felines in the world. Due to the Squires family’s very astute decision to have her micro-chipped, they have been reunited and one very happy kitty has been returned home.
To celebrate this remarkable reunion, along with the recovery of many other missing pets who have also been micro-chipped, Banfield Pet Hospital is making an incredible offer! During the months of October and November, folks will be able to have their pets micro-chipped at 50 percent off their regular cost of $35.
Many pet owners fear pets going missing. According to Home Again, the nationwide pet ID and recovery service, one in three pets will become lost during their lifetime, and sadly, 90 percent of them will never return home without identification. Banfield Pet Hospital, a leader in pet safety, is pleased to announce a wonderful opportunity for pet owners to get their pets micro-chipped at an extremely reasonable cost, from October 1 through November 30, 2011. The microchip system is powered by Home Again.
Even though responsible animal owners collar their pets with identification information, collars can fall off, becoming discarded by the animal, or, much worse, be removed if the animal is stolen. External devices fall short in providing permanent identification information. What is even more alarming; there has been a 32 percent increase in the theft of pets from 2010 to 2011, according to The American Kennel Club. Micro-chipping is the only permanent, reliable method, since it cannot be altered or removed and has a unique code that links the animal back to its owner.
Senior vice president and chief medical officer of Banfield Pet Hospital, Dr. Jeffrey Klausner said, “Every day pets become lost and will never see their family again because they didn’t have a simple, yet effective tool to reunite them with their family. However, inserting a microchip is the simplest and most important step a pet owner can take to ensure that a lost pet returns home safely. We believe every pet we see should be micro-chipped, and right now, not enough pets are protected—it should be as common as a collar or ID tag.”
How does micro-chipping work? Since the microchips are no larger than a grain of rice, they are implanted by a veterinarian using a hypodermic needle. This simple procedure is similar to giving the animal a vaccination. Since the discomfort pets may experience is about the same as a "shot," veterinarians rarely use local anesthesia.
Dr. Edgardo Ortiz, medical director for the New York and New Jersey Banfield Pet Hospitals said, “The micro-chipping procedure is quick and safe and can be done at a local Banfield Pet Hospital. This inexpensive and permanent device is the best hope a pet owner has of protecting a lost or stolen pet."
Included in the Home Again microchip is lifetime registration, permitting the pet owner to update their contact information, if necessary, at no additional charge. Provided is a tag with instructions if the lost pet is found. The pet will also undergo a routine microchip scan during every hospital visit to verify the emission by its actual owner.
To take advantage of Banfield Pet Hospital's 50 percent discount, coupons are available on their website.
What are your thoughts about micro-chipping? Share them in a comment.
Shortly after retiring as a social worker and psychotherapist, I discovered my "writer's voice"…
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Comments (8)
Microchips are a great way to prevent pets from being euthanized if they reach shelters. While tags can be lost or destroyed, the chip remains with the pet even if it loses its collar. It's a simple procedure and the chip itself is typically the size of a grain of rice.
As for the claims that microchipping can be harmful to animals, there is absolutely no facts to back that up.
There's a really useful and simply FAQ microchipping section on this website: http://www.foundanimals.org/pet-identification/pet-microchip-faq
Microchipping is a great idea. We have two cats here that are microchipped. We have an issue with the vet who has decided that microchipping should be done under sedation. I do not agree. The size needle used to insert the chip is not that big that it will cause undue pain to the animal. We are currently looking for another vet.
The one issue I have for Ag and Markets is the way they "Tag" livestock. Ear tags are nasty and potentially painful. We have seen animals caught in fences and in more than one case the animal panics and tears the tag out of their ear and causes terrible injury and trauma. I have told all that would listen that a microchip inserted in livestock would be an excellent way of tracking animals without such drastic measures as tattooing or tagging. The tags could go under the skin in an area that is not used in meat production and still be readable. I also agree with Reno. I have never seen a cancer case involving a chip.
I highly recommend microchipping. That I know of, there is no substantiated research that mircrochips cause cancer. I have had every pet I have ever owned microchipped since they became available and none of them ever got cancer from the chip. In fact, only one of my 22 pets that I have had in my lifetime ever got cancer. The vet I work for does complimentary microchipping with every speuter surgery. And to the person that said that scanning is not routine in most areas, it is supposed to be. A conscientious ACO will scan each and every animal. And I spoke to the Home Again rep when the Home Again chip first came out in the 90s and Schering Plough, the company that made the chip, sent a scanner to every shelter and ACO nationwide so pets could be scanned. As as for the chips not being universal, that is true, but the Home Again scanner will still pick up the chip and tell you what company made it so you get a scanner that will read the number. That happened several times at the vet where I work. The scanner would come up with AVID or something else, so we would call other area vets or shelters till we found someone with that particular scanner so we could scan the pet and reunited it with its owner. It takes a little work and a little effort but it is nothing for people who are passionate about animals. And as far as I am concerned those are the only people that should be in the animal husbandry field. Sadly, that is not always the case though.......that's a soapbox for another day.......
Microchips cause cancer in pets. If my pet is every missing I will use http://www.PetAmberAlert.com
My dog was microchipped, and wore a tag with all of my contact information. Her tags were on her harness; she didn't wear a collar. Last Christmas Eve, she got spooked by a loud noise and ran. Her harness broke off, so she had no tags, but she still had the microchip. Yet, in one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with one of the highest numbers of vets and animal rescues per capita, she was never found. I put notifications out to all organizations, vets, animal rescues, the NYC animal rescue agency, pet "amber alerts," the police, the Parks Dept., but she was never found. She was never brought into a situation where she was actually SCANNED to see if she had a microchip. This is the problem with microchipping, and the part the companies and vets don't tell you about. Essentially, if the animal is not scanned, it won't be found, and scanning animals for microchips is not routine in many areas, like vets, police, sanitation and highway depts., (in case, God forbid, the animal is found hit by the side of the road or discarded in the trash). In addition, not all microchip systems are compatible, which is a big gap in the system. My next dog is getting a tattoo, and wearing a buckle-type collar with my contact info.
Even though both of my cats are strictly indoor girls there are so many circumstances which could cause them to be outside without me- all unpleasant to be sure,ranging from a disaster at my apt, one of them suddenly deciding to see what's outside the hallway door when we aren't looking.... well the rest are more unpleasant to consider but it could happen...so both of my girls are chipped. HomeAgain has my vet's contact info, my brother's and my regular cat-sitter's in case I am not available in an emergency. Especially with this generous offer from Banfield I hope everyone will have their precious babies microchipped!
My cats are beloved family, not "pets", and I do not own any living being. As I wouldn't veel comfortable with a microchip myself, I have never seen it necessary to microchip anyone else; but that's just my personal decision. Those who choose to do so for whatever reason are trying to protect their loved ones, too, I'm sure.