Benefits of chipping your pet with Noah’s Animal Hospitals
Thomas Dock, the Director of Communications from Noah’s Animal Hospitals, joined us to discuss the importance of microchipping pets. Let’s delve into the topic and learn more.
Microchips provide a unique means of identification for pets. It’s estimated that over 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S. every year, and one in three pets will become lost at some point.
Microchips, which are rice-sized radio identification devices, offer a permanent and distinctive form of identification for dogs, cats, and many other animals.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), microchipped dogs have a much higher chance of being reunited with their owners compared to those without microchips.
In the UK, where microchipping has been mandatory for the last five years, return rates are significantly higher.
Unlike collars and tags that can be easily removed, microchips are implanted under the pet’s skin and can’t be lost.
No significant issues have been reported regarding microchipping. There have been extremely rare and unsubstantiated reports of cancer development, but overall, microchipping is considered safe for pets.
It’s important to note that no identification system is 100% foolproof, but when microchips are implanted correctly, registered properly, and the database is kept up to date, they significantly increase the odds of reuniting lost pets with their owners.
Most veterinary offices and animal shelters have microchip scanners. By bringing the found pet to one of these places, they can scan for a microchip. This quick process can help reunite pets with their families.
The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) has a universal lookup tool at https://petmicrochiplookup.org/ that can assist in identifying the correct database associated with the microchip.
Posting the found pet on dedicated websites like IndyLostPets can be incredibly helpful in reuniting families.
For more information, viewers can visit Noah’s Animal Hospitals, a family-owned and locally operated group of animal hospitals serving Central Indiana pets and their people for over 40 years.
Remember, microchipping can significantly increase the odds of getting your beloved pet home to you.