Have You Checked the Chip?

Say hello to June! Full of sunshine, pet walks, and microchips. Yes, microchips! June is National Microchip Awareness Month. A pet microchip is a rice sized electronic device that is inserted under the skin. Each chip has a unique number code that can be found with a microchip scanner that animal shelters, veterinary clinics, and city pounds have. Once implanted, the chip cannot be lost, broken, fall off, or be removed like a collar and tags can be. That means if your pet were to ever get lost, your pet has a permanent form of identification. 

Why is this important? 

As we mentioned microchips cannot be removed. Tags and collars are a great way to identify animals however tags and collars can be removed, torn off, or broken off. The reason microchips are more beneficial for identification than tags and collars is because microchips are placed under the skin and cannot be removed. Any vet clinic, humane society, and animal control facility would have a microchip scanner that could scan a lost pet for anyone that would find your lost pet. The scanner would find a number code special to your specific pet. That number code can then be typed into a national microchip data base linking the chip number to your contact information. Yes! It can be that simple! 

How Do We Get Our Pet a Microchip?

Microchips are easily implanted, easily scanned, and make it easy to contact owners. To have a microchip implanted, owners would make a short appointment at a veterinarian's office. At the appointment we would implant the microchip. It is a simple process. The chip is implanted under your pet's skin with a syringe and needle like a vaccine would be given. We implant all microchips above the shoulder blades as that is a universal area to implant microchips, that way anyone can know where to scan for the chip. Getting a microchip for your pet is a quick and simple process. Some owners prefer to have the microchip implanted when the pet is under anesthesia for surgery. By doing this, the animal will not remember the poke from the needle. If your pet is already spayed/neutered and does not need any surgeries in the near future, we are happy to implant a microchip at a vaccine appointment, wellness exam, nail trim appointments, and heartworm testing appointments. Or even setting up an appointment just for the microchip. 

Microchips are important to us because they reunite families.
​Call us for more questions about microchips and to get your pet thier micochip. Enjoy the summer weather everyone!