Admin
August 3rd, 2005, 17:39
As an animal welfare worker, there is nothing quite like the thrill of getting a “hit” on a microchip reader.
Whenever an animal arrives at our shelter, it is scanned for a microchip and if there’s a microchip implanted, the beep on our reader tells us that this animal is going home.
Microchips are not new technology, but there are several misconceptions about these items that need to be addressed.
No larger than a grain of rice, these chips are not “homing beacons” and will not tell you where your pet has gone. There are actually collars with radio trackers that are very popular with hunters who run dog packs but these are expensive.
There are also no batteries that will leak or anything else that will harm your animal and they will last for the life of the pet.
There are two major manufacturers for microchips, Avid and Home Again and these companies have the largest market share with a few others making inroads into this market.
There has even been some controversy over new manufacturers introducing new microchips that were unable to be “read” by most chip readers and this has even led to animals with microchips being euthanized in shelters because the shelter didn’t have or did not use a chip reader that would identify the chip that was implanted.
These newer chips were being sold by Banfield Pet Hospitals and sales of these chips has since ceased.
In order to get a chip implanted, you would visit your Veterinarian or local animal shelter that performs this service.
For anywhere from $40 to $75, they will implant the chip with a needle under the animals skin in the “scruff” just forward of the shoulder blades.
Since the microchip must pass through the needle to be implanted, the needle is pretty big and it will probably cause some discomfort for the animal.
You can ask that a local anesthetic be administered to numb the area.
Once implanted, that’s it-you’re all done. You will receive some registration paperwork to fill out and it might require a small registration fee in order to submit it, but it’s good for the life of your pet.
This registration will tell the Pet Center that a numbered chip was implanted into your animal. It will provide contact information for you to any animal agency that has need of it and if your animal is injured, a microchip could prevent it from being euthanized since many animal shelter workers will realize that since this animal is “chipped”, there must be someone who will come forward to pay for the care.
Since I travel all over the country, I have my pets implanted with two microchips from Home Again and Avid since I never know which animal shelter in which town is using which scanner.
Is this idea a little neurotic on my part? Probably, but as truckers I think we can agree on the idea of better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
If any of my pets are lost, I want to stack the odds as much in their favor as is possible because no one could ever love them like I do, just as no one could ever love or appreciate your pet like you.
Even if something terrible happens to your animal, a microchip can be used as evidence since they continue to work after an animals death.
Case in point, Virginia Beach Animal Control scanned a Boxer puppy that had been starved to death for a microchip and it had one.
Tracing this chip back to the puppy mill that had implanted, law enforcement was able to determine where the animal was purchased, who bought it and the person responsible for starving the animal was charged with felony animal cruelty.
Recent numbers indicate that about five million pets are lost each year, although there is no way to know the exact numbers since many of these lost pets are never reported to animal authorities.
It’s also estimated that anywhere from 1.5 to 2 million of these animals were actually stolen.
Again, these are estimates and the true number may never be known.
Animal theft is a growing problem and many places, many of these animals end up in research laboratories for animal experimentation.
Others are used in cult rituals, for fur, some are eaten while others are used as bait for fighting dogs or exotic animals.
There are even some who use kittens as snake-food.
It is also estimated that less than 50% of lost dogs and only 4% of lost cats are ever recovered by their owners again.
So what must you as a responsible pet owner do to stack the odds in your favor?
First, make sure that your pet has proper identification. This includes a municipal animal license and a current rabies tag.
These two tags can be used to identify which city or Vet hospital has a record on this animal and the owner can be located.
Another good idea is a nametag with your pet’s name, your contact phone number and the word “REWARD!”.
If someone stole your animal, they might opt to call you to see how big the reward is and save themselves some effort. Personally, I wouldn’t care what their motives are, I just want my pet back.
Keep recent and clear pictures handy so you can print up lost pet flyers in the event that your pet does wander off, again, the word REWARD will get attention.
But most importantly, collars can be removed or lost, but a microchip isn’t.
There have even been cases where animals missing for years and were recovered with a microchip. There was a recent case where a cat lost in Florida seven years ago was found wandering the Mission District in San Francisco, California.
A $40.00 microchip provided a happy reunion to a pet owner who was sure they would never see their cat again.
Sadly, many lost pets end up in animal shelters only to be euthanized simply because no one came forward to claim them. With the nature of our jobs, it might not be possible to check the local animal shelters in a city we visit every day should we ever lose a pet.
I’ve often said that yes, the needle used to implant a microchip is big and it will probably hurt your pet for a while, but many lost pets get stuck with another needle to be euthanized because their owners never found them.
Give your pet every chance to make it back home, make the effort, take the time and get a microchip implanted.
For more helpful information on recovering a lost pet, please visit:
http://www.portsmouthhumanesociety.org/lostmypet.html
By Uncle Fester, Editor TruckstopUSA
Whenever an animal arrives at our shelter, it is scanned for a microchip and if there’s a microchip implanted, the beep on our reader tells us that this animal is going home.
Microchips are not new technology, but there are several misconceptions about these items that need to be addressed.
No larger than a grain of rice, these chips are not “homing beacons” and will not tell you where your pet has gone. There are actually collars with radio trackers that are very popular with hunters who run dog packs but these are expensive.
There are also no batteries that will leak or anything else that will harm your animal and they will last for the life of the pet.
There are two major manufacturers for microchips, Avid and Home Again and these companies have the largest market share with a few others making inroads into this market.
There has even been some controversy over new manufacturers introducing new microchips that were unable to be “read” by most chip readers and this has even led to animals with microchips being euthanized in shelters because the shelter didn’t have or did not use a chip reader that would identify the chip that was implanted.
These newer chips were being sold by Banfield Pet Hospitals and sales of these chips has since ceased.
In order to get a chip implanted, you would visit your Veterinarian or local animal shelter that performs this service.
For anywhere from $40 to $75, they will implant the chip with a needle under the animals skin in the “scruff” just forward of the shoulder blades.
Since the microchip must pass through the needle to be implanted, the needle is pretty big and it will probably cause some discomfort for the animal.
You can ask that a local anesthetic be administered to numb the area.
Once implanted, that’s it-you’re all done. You will receive some registration paperwork to fill out and it might require a small registration fee in order to submit it, but it’s good for the life of your pet.
This registration will tell the Pet Center that a numbered chip was implanted into your animal. It will provide contact information for you to any animal agency that has need of it and if your animal is injured, a microchip could prevent it from being euthanized since many animal shelter workers will realize that since this animal is “chipped”, there must be someone who will come forward to pay for the care.
Since I travel all over the country, I have my pets implanted with two microchips from Home Again and Avid since I never know which animal shelter in which town is using which scanner.
Is this idea a little neurotic on my part? Probably, but as truckers I think we can agree on the idea of better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
If any of my pets are lost, I want to stack the odds as much in their favor as is possible because no one could ever love them like I do, just as no one could ever love or appreciate your pet like you.
Even if something terrible happens to your animal, a microchip can be used as evidence since they continue to work after an animals death.
Case in point, Virginia Beach Animal Control scanned a Boxer puppy that had been starved to death for a microchip and it had one.
Tracing this chip back to the puppy mill that had implanted, law enforcement was able to determine where the animal was purchased, who bought it and the person responsible for starving the animal was charged with felony animal cruelty.
Recent numbers indicate that about five million pets are lost each year, although there is no way to know the exact numbers since many of these lost pets are never reported to animal authorities.
It’s also estimated that anywhere from 1.5 to 2 million of these animals were actually stolen.
Again, these are estimates and the true number may never be known.
Animal theft is a growing problem and many places, many of these animals end up in research laboratories for animal experimentation.
Others are used in cult rituals, for fur, some are eaten while others are used as bait for fighting dogs or exotic animals.
There are even some who use kittens as snake-food.
It is also estimated that less than 50% of lost dogs and only 4% of lost cats are ever recovered by their owners again.
So what must you as a responsible pet owner do to stack the odds in your favor?
First, make sure that your pet has proper identification. This includes a municipal animal license and a current rabies tag.
These two tags can be used to identify which city or Vet hospital has a record on this animal and the owner can be located.
Another good idea is a nametag with your pet’s name, your contact phone number and the word “REWARD!”.
If someone stole your animal, they might opt to call you to see how big the reward is and save themselves some effort. Personally, I wouldn’t care what their motives are, I just want my pet back.
Keep recent and clear pictures handy so you can print up lost pet flyers in the event that your pet does wander off, again, the word REWARD will get attention.
But most importantly, collars can be removed or lost, but a microchip isn’t.
There have even been cases where animals missing for years and were recovered with a microchip. There was a recent case where a cat lost in Florida seven years ago was found wandering the Mission District in San Francisco, California.
A $40.00 microchip provided a happy reunion to a pet owner who was sure they would never see their cat again.
Sadly, many lost pets end up in animal shelters only to be euthanized simply because no one came forward to claim them. With the nature of our jobs, it might not be possible to check the local animal shelters in a city we visit every day should we ever lose a pet.
I’ve often said that yes, the needle used to implant a microchip is big and it will probably hurt your pet for a while, but many lost pets get stuck with another needle to be euthanized because their owners never found them.
Give your pet every chance to make it back home, make the effort, take the time and get a microchip implanted.
For more helpful information on recovering a lost pet, please visit:
http://www.portsmouthhumanesociety.org/lostmypet.html
By Uncle Fester, Editor TruckstopUSA