Pet Essentials: Microchips Help Lost Pets Find Their Way Home

by Kelly James | Oct 31, 2007

Many of the sad faces in shelters had happy homes, but once upon a time they were lost and never found. Before you start thinking this can’t happen to you, note this: one in three pets get lost; 10 million pets are lost every year; 84% of dogs and 98% of cats don’t return home. Follow Uno, the Pomeranian, to find out how quick, inexpensive and crucial it is to give your pet a lifeline to return home again.

Hi, my name is Uno. I’m almost four years old and am on my way to visit Dr. Dann at Blum Animal Hospital. My mom heard about microchipping. She said if I get lost, the microchip will help me find my way home because shelters and veterinarians are required to scan found lost dogs and cats for microchips. I’m pretty nervous, but when I meet Dr. Dann, I feel a lot better. He’s about 7 feet taller than me, but he calls me cute names and tells me I’m adorable, so I think this is going to be alright. 

After my overall examination, Dr. Dann discovers indeed I am a strapping, healthy, young buck and we can go ahead with the chipping. (Okay, I’m not perfect. I’ve got trick knees and blocked tear ducts, but the chicks dig it.) He tells my mom that Pomeranians have a low pain tolerance and that the needle used to microchip is a larger gauge, so I might cry. I’m no wimp...‘Ahhhh!’ My mom said I sounded like a baby piglet. It gave me a little pinch, but I didn’t feel a thing seconds later. The microchip is about the same size of a grain of rice and it’s now going to hang out by my shoulders for the rest of my life. It’s an anti-migration microchip that has “grips” on the ends, so it won’t float through my muscular, manly body. It will stay right where it’s supposed to...Well, back to my mom!

Now that Uno is microchipped, Dr. Dann recommends we take it one step further and register the chip directly with the company. The microchip only contains an ID number (no GPS capabilities), and if a pet with an unregistered microchip is found, the contact information would be the location where the chip was sold. The veterinarian or shelter who administered the chip would then be responsible for contacting the pet’s owner, which can be problematic on weekends, evenings, or holidays when many places of business are closed. If your pet is lost and separated from his collar, registering the chip associates your contact information with the microchip number. “The real advantage— microchipping is the only permanent means of identification,” says Dr. Dann.