Do you think that your dog or cat could never be lost? Think again. Statistics show one out of three family pets will be lost. Once lost, only 10% of lost pets are identified and reunited with their families.
Sadly, all it takes is a gate left ajar by a worker or the neighborhood kids, or a crash of thunder as you try to quickly slip past your pet into the house to get out of the rain...perhaps a guest, unaccustomed to your feline door-darter pauses a moment too long, or your dog becomes frightened and backs out of his collar. Pets can get away from even the most careful and attentive people, and seemingly vanish before we can slip on shoes and race after them.
Micro-chipping is a great way to help animal control facilities, vets and shelters, reunite your pet with you. Microchipping is a simple procedure. A tiny microchip, about the size of a grain of rice, is inserted under the skin of the pet. This is a procedure much like your pet's vaccinations -- essentially painless. The "lifetime" chip, made of inert material to eliminate an allergic reaction, contains a unique number, registered only to your pet. Animal control agencies are mandated to scan stray animals housed in their facilities, to check for microchips. Should your pet become lost, and turned in to an animal control facility, the chip will facilitate the happy reunion of you and your pet.
Friends of Strays scans every animal who comes into the Shelter. All pets adopted from Friends of Strays are micro-chipped.
Micro-chipping is one way to help you reunite with your pet if your pet becomes lost. It is especially important if your pet is brought to an animal control facility, a shelter or a vet clinic where scanners are available to detect the chip. Equally important, is a good-fitting collar with an identification tag should your pet be found by an individual. In addition to supplying relevant contact information, the tag and collar convey to pet-friendly people, that the pet is an owned animal, probably safe to approach and probably one that will not become a long-term responsibility for the rescuer; this generally encourages people to befriend your pet. Finally, attentiveness to where pets are and what they are doing is essential to responsible pet-ownership.
