Microchipping
Every year many pets go missing in southeast Louisiana and many don’t make it back home. Many pets,
and especially indoor pets, don’t always wear collars with tags. Even if your pet wears a collar and
identification tag, collars can break off, and tags can become damaged and unreadable, so these forms
of identification may not be enough to ensure your pet’s safe return. Your pet needs a form of
identification that is reliable and can’t get lost, stolen, or damaged. A microchip is a safe, permanent
form of identification that can significantly increase the chance that your pet will return safely in the
event they become separated from you.
A microchip is about the size and shape of a grain of rice and is placed underneath your pet’s skin
between the shoulder blades. When a microchip is implanted, the staff at Simply Southern Animal Hospital will register your pet and
their number on the microchip in a national pet recovery
database. Veterinary hospitals, animal shelters, and animal control offices across the country are
equipped with special electronic scanners that can detect the microchip and read the identification
number. If a lost pet is picked up by animal control or found by a good Samaritan and presented to a
veterinarian, a quick scan of the microchip will reveal the identification number. A toll-free phone call to
the pet recovery database alerts the microchip company that a lost pet has been identified. Pet owners
will then be contacted and reunited with their pet.
Regardless of your pet's age, you should
consider microchipping. Even indoor pets can get outside accidentally and get lost, so if you’re relying on
other forms of identification alone, you could be placing your pet at risk. Microchipping is a safe, effective way
to help ensure your pet’s return if the unthinkable happens.
Dr. Chris Hayes and his staff want to provide your pet the greatest opportunity to be returned in
the event they become lost or separated from you. Ask one of the Simply Southern Animal Hospital
team about microchipping your pet today.