May is "Microchip Your Pet" month. If you haven't already done so, please make it a priority! A microchip is a tiny electronic chip encased in a glass cylinder - about the size of a grain of rice – that can reunite pets and their people. According to Home Again®, their microchips have returned more than 3-million lost pets, and there are other chip companies also making happy reunions! Microchips do not use batteries or have any moving parts and are composed of biocompatible materials that will not degenerate. Once in place, they can last a pet’s lifetime as nothing wears out or needs to be replaced.
Microchips operate on radio waves activated when a scanner is passed over them. The chip transmits to the scanner, via a visual display, an identification number unique to your pet. If you have done your homework registering the chip with the company and providing them with your up-to-date contact information, that info will show up in the data base when matched with the ID number displayed on the scanner. According to Microchip ID Systems®, a study of more than 7,700 stray animals that made their way to animal shelters, only 21.9% of the time were dogs without microchips returned to their owners whereas dogs with microchips were reunited with their humans in 52.2% of cases.
Injecting a microchip is not the end game, though. Pet parents and caregivers must keep all information associated with the chip’s ID number up-to-date. If you move, change your phone number, email, or veterinarian, make it a priority to inform your microchip company at once.
You can get your pet microchipped at your vet's office, or you can get it done without an appointment at the Humane Society of Utah. Just visit their clinic during business hours and they will quickly do it for you! It's something very easy and simple you can do that will help you reunite with your pet if they ever get lost. Make it a goal to get it done during the month of May!
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