Help Your Pets Find Their Way Back Home

The doorbell rings, you open the door to greet your long awaited friends and your curious cat shoots out the door and gets lost. Your teenager took out the garbage but forgot to latch the backyard gate and no one saw your family canine leave. Accidents happen -- doors and gates get left open, fences get damaged, burglaries happen, auto accidents surprise everyone -- even the most conscientious caregiver can lose their pet.

Taking a few proactive steps can save you and your pet from a frightening and dangerous experience.

ID Tags A highly visible identification tag on your pet’s collar is highly recommended, since it is easy to read and is your pet’s quickest ticket back home. Simple and inexpensive, these tags can be ordered from pet stores, shelters, veterinarians, magazines ads or special offers on pet product packaging.

The tag should contain your name, address, day and night phone numbers and your pet’s name. If you are traveling away from home, have another tag with a friend’s day and night phone numbers in case of emergency.

Microchips A microchip is a tiny electronic transponder about the size of a grain of rice. The chip is embedded under the pet’s skin using a simple, relatively painless procedure similar to a routine vaccination. Each chip bears a 10-digit number that can be traced to the pet’s owner.

When your lost pet is found, anyone with a scanner – animal care and control agencies, adoption centers, veterinary clinics – can quickly identify you as the owner by matching the unique code to a master database. The microchip is permanent, lasting the life of your animal so it is important to keep your information up to date.

Microchips are available from veterinarians, some vaccination clinics, and public shelters at an average cost of $25 to $75, sometimes with additional registration fees. Some adoption centers, like Pets In Need, include a microchip as part of the health services and loving care all animals receive to help them get ready for re-homing.

 
Founded in 1965, Pets In Need receives no federal, state or local government support.

Published in the San Mateo County Times, February 2, 2002