Each year thousands of pets go missing. Most don’t make it back home to their owners— The American Humane Association reports only 2% of lost cats and 15% of lost dogs get reunited with their owners. At Safe Harbor Animal Hospital we recommend microchipping as a surefire way to increase your chances of being reunited with your pet if it were to stray from their home in Pensacola, Florida.
Your pet needs a reliable form of identification. Conscientious pet owners have their pets wear a collar and ID tag, but collars can break off, and tags can become damaged and unreadable. Microchips— about the size and shape of a grain of rice—are a better, more reliable alternative. A microchip is placed underneath your pet's skin between the shoulder blades in a quick and harmless implantation procedure. Each chip is unique and carries vital information about your pet, including the owner’s name, address, and contact information. After the implantation procedure, the pet owner must register the microchip.
Registering the number on the microchip enrolls your pet in a national pet recovery database. Microchips work by receiving a radio signal from a scanner and transmitting the encoded chip identification number back to the scanner. Veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and animal control offices across the country have special electronic equipment that can scan the microchip and read the identification number. If a lost pet is picked up by animal control or found by a good samaritan and presented to a veterinarian, a quick scan of the microchip reveals the pet details. A toll-free phone call to the pet recovery database alerts the microchip company that a lost pet has been identified. The pet owner can then be contacted and reunited with his or her pet!
Keep reading for answers to some of the most commonly asked questions regarding microchipping for pets:
How is a pet microchip installed?
Our vets at Safe Harbor Animal Hospital will insert the microchip under your pet’s skin between the shoulder blades using a hypodermic needle. The process takes seconds and is similar to receiving a vaccination. The microchip implant is no larger than a grain of rice.
The painless procedure is commonly performed at the same time an animal is spayed or neutered. Microchipping can be performed on different pets such as dogs, cats, ferrets, and many, many others.
How much does microchipping cost?
Even with the accompanying registration fees, implanting a microchip in your pet is inexpensive. For a nominal fee, you gain peace of mind, knowing that you can be reunited with your pet if they ever get lost! For a specific price quote, contact our offices at Safe Harbor Animal Hospital.
Are pet microchips safe?
Complications are quite rare during the implantation process. The benefits of a pet being correctly identified and returned to its owner far outweigh the small risk of possible complications. Our veterinarians at Safe Harbor Animal Hospital have the experience in injecting RFID microchips into pets and strongly recommend the procedure for all pets.
How long will the microchip last?
The microchip capsule is made of a strong biocompatible glass that won’t cause an allergic reaction when inserted under your pet’s skin. Without any complications, the microchip can last the entire life of your pet.
Please call us today at Safe Harbor Animal Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, to have your pet microchipped. It is a safe, easy procedure that gives you extra peace of mind knowing that your pet has the highest chances of being reunited with you if they happen to get lost.
