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UNTIL YOUR PET LEARNS TO USE THE PHONE. YOU MAY WANT TO INSTALL A MICROCHIP. IT ONLY TAKES A SECOND
You and your pet are on a trip and suddenly they get away from you. Perhaps you opened the door to let the maid in your room, or your pet jumps out of your car in a parking lot, never to be seen again. If you are traveling overseas it is even more essential for the safety of your pet and in some countries it is ILLEGAL not to have a microchip implanted in your pet.
When pets are exposed to fireworks or thunder to which they are not accustomed, or when they are simply bored, they will flee.
THEN WHAT?
Everyday shelters receive calls from frantic, tearful, and distraught people who have lost their pets. It's a sickening feeling to realize your pet is missing, especially if you know they got out the door or past the gate without an identification (ID) tag on. In many cases even if the pet left the home with the tag in place it may come off before the pet is found.
CHANCES OF RECOVERY ARE SLIM
While most pet owners think that losing a pet could never happen to them, a recent National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy report revealed that it happens a lot: About 3.8 million dogs and 2.3 million cats entering the nation's shelters last year were strays. And, what's worse only a small percentage are ever found again by their owners, Only 16.6 percent of dogs and a pitiful 2.1 percent of cats are ever reunited with their families.
THE SOLUTION
If your pet becomes lost or stolen and you took the precautionary step of having a microchip placed under your pets skin, you can rest assured knowing your pet will have an excellent chance of returning home, safely. A simple chip the size of a grain of rice could save your pet's life and save you a lifetime of heartache.
Two companies are leading the way in microchip implants:
- Avid, http://www.avidid.com/pets/ has
a program called PetTrac, which is in place in
the United States, England and Mexico and is rapidly being adopted
in most
of Europe.
- Schering-Plough manufactures a microchip called HOME AGAIN. For
a list of vets which do this procedure visit their web site at http://usa.spah.com/usa/search/vets.cfm
The chip contains all of the information vital to
returning the pet to its owner and the registration
information is kept in databases available 24 hours a day at the AKC
and at Avid. The version
used in Europe even contains the pets medical records.
If your pet comes to a shelter or humane society, a scanner is run over the pet and identification is quickly made, your pet is safely returned to you.
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