The Importance of Microchipping
Lyza Jane is a sweet, indoor cat, who loves to cuddle and voices her opinion daily. When she was six years old, she snuck out of her home. Checking out the neighborhood, she realized that she had traveled too far from her residence. One of the houses that she had checked out had a kitty door that was open. Wandering into the house, she became distressed when she realized that this was not her home; however, she was a good cat and tried to blend in with her new environment.
The owner of the house came home and found a cat that didn’t belong to her! She called Elk Grove animal control, which then took Lyza Jane to the SPCA. She was scanned for a microchip and the SPCA facility cheered when they realized she had one. They made Lyza Jane as comfortable as possible and then immediately called the phone number that was registered to the chip.
Suzanne, a technician at Hatton Veterinary Hospital, received the call from the SPCA. She was extremely relieved to hear that Lyza Jane was found!
Statistics show that one out of three family pets will be lost. Unfortunately, only 10% of lost pets are identified. Most people believe that it could never happen to them, but the facts do not lie.
¨Every two seconds, a family pet is lost and most never make it back because their owners could not locate them.
¨Shelters are already overcrowded; so lost pets can only be kept for a short period of time.
¨ More pets die because their owners are unable to locate them than from all infectious diseases combined.
¨ A microchip provides peace-of-mind that in case of an unforeseen event, your pet can be safely reunited with you.
Elk Grove Animal Control now requires that all licensed animals be microchipped. According to the animal licensing requirements, “all applicants for such license shall procure and deliver a certificate issued by a duly licensed veterinarian, certifying that each dog or cat to be licensed has been administered an anti-rabies vaccination and has had a microchip inserted prior to the issuance of said license for the current license period.”
Microchips benefit all pets and their owners. The microchip implanted in your pet contains a personal, one-of-a-kind identification number that identifies your pet and proof of ownership. For example, your pet can become lost due to a fence falling during a storm or by escaping from the yard. Without a microchip, if your pet’s collar comes off, or tags are lost, there is no identification that will provide adequate information about where he or she belongs. A microchip registered in the microchip database can provide more information than can be written on a tag. Microchips will ensure that you and your pet will be reunited without delay. A microchip is a safe, simple, effective, and permanent form of identification to help your pet find its way back home.
Lyza’s story is just one of the thousands of stories of pets with microchips that found their way back to the loving arms of their owners.
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