Pets love the outdoors, and in places where wilderness out-stretches civilization, pets can easily get lost. That’s why getting them a microchip is an important part of pet protection.
A Microchip Is Safe And Painless
Many pet owners fear the implant injection will hurt their animal. However, the injection type and needle size put the experience in the same category as vaccinations. The microchip comes in a sterile syringe and is injected between the shoulder blades. The injection takes only several seconds and the experience for the pet will be no different than if your pet had received a vaccination shot.
Microchips are not global positioning (GPS) enabled. They are, in fact, radio-frequency identification (RFID) implants. They provide identification and medical information about your pet. So while they won’t help find a pet using Google Maps, when a pet is found that pet has a much better chance of getting home safely.
Microchips never wear out. They do not require a battery power supply and there are no moving parts. The RFID chip essentially stays dormant until receiving power from a scanner that will read the chip’s information.
Collars And Tags Are Still Important
An RFID microchip is not a replacement for a collar and tags though. Just about anyone can read the information on tags while a microchip needs to be read by a scanner. So if a pet wanders over to someone, a good set of tags gives not only the name of the pet and owner but medical information too. Say, for example, the person who finds a lost pet decides to treat the animal to dinner before taking him or her to a shelter. Tags are an easy way to inform a would-be caregiver of any special dietary restrictions.
However, tags can deteriorate and collars can fall off. In the great outdoors of Minnesota, chances are that a lost pet will travel through a bit of wilderness. Dogs and cats are very adept at getting their collars off should they become snagged while traipsing through the woods. The truth probably is that our pets could get their collars off any time they wanted. They just like to amuse us by wearing them.
Both cats and dogs should get microchipped. Less than 2% of cats who do not have microchips get returned home. The chances of a cat being returned to their owner are 20 times higher if the cat has an RFID chip implanted.
Not only is information about your pet more reliably kept on a microchip, but the data itself is also completely safe. Microchips cannot be hacked because they contain only an ID number. The ID number is used to access a national database used by shelters and veterinarians. So only those interested in pet welfare have access to the information.
Microchip makers like HomeAgain offer additional features like insurance for pet injuries that may happen while a pet is lost. The service includes free access to a 24-hour poison hotline. They also will help print lost pet posters.
Call Blue Sky Animal Hospital today to make an appointment with our team, headed by Dr. Jeff Johnson. If your pet ever gets lost, you’ll feel more confident knowing he or she is microchipped.
Sources
Pet Finder
