When people get a new furry family member, the importance of pet identification often gets left behind. It is easy to get distracted by puppy kisses or tiny kitten paws that we forget one of the crucial steps in pet ownership, identification! Imagine your puppy digging under the fence, or your kitten sneaking through the door, and no one having any idea if they have a home, or even a name. It is near impossible to return a lost pet to their home if there is no way of identifying the pet. That is why identification is so important.
It is as simple as a collar, a tag with information, and a microchip. There are custom made collars that have a name and phone number embroidered directly onto the collar, in the case that the tags fall off. Custom tags can be made at most pet supply stores. Important information to include on a personalized tag includes the pet’s name, a phone number, and a home address. A Rabies vaccination tag often includes the clinic that the vaccination was administered at, along with that clinic’s phone number. In that case if the pet is lost, it could be brought into that clinic and the Rabies tag number looked up on file. Therefore, it is important to put the rabies tag on your pet’s collar.
A microchip procedure is done in a veterinary clinic. Microchips are implanted underneath the skin, usually in the scruff area. The chip contains numbers and/or letters that are directly linked to the owner’s information- most often a name, phone number, and address. Some microchip companies also include a tag with the microchip number to put onto the pet’s collar so that if the pet is found, the person knows that the pet has a chip. The most important part about having your pet micro chipped is keeping the information up to date. A microchip has no use if the information linked to it is invalid, for example: adopting a pet from a previous owner and not updating the information to your own name, number, and address.
Please consider the recommendations above, and if you have any questions or concerns regarding pet identification please contact Mill Creek Animal Hospital!
