Microchipping pets can help animals find their way back home

By Carrie Alexander

One in three pets will become lost during its lifetime. And according to the American Humane Association, only about 17 percent of lost dogs and 2 percent of lost cats ever find their way back to their original owners. Some of those pets

may have tags on, but if their collars get lost or they get out by accident, a tag can become worthless.

Microchipping can be an effective supplement to a collar and identification tag to help a lost pet get home sooner.

Dr. David Leighr of Long Veterinary Clinic, which performs microchipping, said most veterinarians have a chip reader that helps them return dogs to their owners.

“We use a service called Avid, but there are several different services,” Leighr said. “Our reader will read several different brands.”

To microchip an animal, a veterinarian injects a chip about the size of a grain of rice just under the pet’s skin between the shoulder blades. The number on the chip is then entered into a database.

While there are several different brands used, each one basically works them same way. When a lost pet is found, any animal hospital, shelter or humane society can use a special handheld microchip scanner to read the microchip’s unique identification number through its skin. The veterinarian or shelter then contacts the database. The database matches the number to a name and phone number, reuniting the lost pet with its owner.

While the price can vary from one veterinarian to another, implanting the microchip usually costs about $45.

“We simply inject a small microchip like we do with vaccinations,” Leighr said. “It is inserted right between the shoulder blades on both cats and dogs, but it is important to always keep information up to date.”

Keeping pets safe is up to pet owners. Microchipping along with keeping pets inside a fence or on a leash, and having accurate information on tags could be the difference between a pet finding his way back home or not.

Staff writer Carrie Alexander can be reached at 628-6010 or carriealexander@npgco.com.