Historical June 1995 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Thousands of lost pets are euthanized yearly because they lack identification which would reunite them with their owners.
The standard “name tag” attached to a collar has limitations, and drawbacks. Mostly, people don’t keep a proper fitting collar on their pet at all times. Suddenly, the door is open, the pet is gone, and there on the hall table sits the collar with the tags.
If a pet is wearing a proper collar and tags, but is stolen, or found, by someone unwilling to search for the original owner, the collar and tags are easily discarded.. Cats are devils to keep collared; as many as you put on, they return home without– in short order. Also, outdoor cats can get hung up on obstacles with a collar. Breakaway collars are safe for the cat, but owners get frustrated replacing the tags left behind when the collar “breaks away” during a cat’s evening excursions. Tattooing permanently identifies a pet, but there is no centralized registry of tattoos. So, a pet is found and it has a tattoo and there is no one, or place, to call to find out what the tattoo means. Even if a tattoo registry did exist, many tattoos are not legible. Modern technology has provided a simple, inexpensive and permanent means to identify pets: a microchip.
The microchip is sealed in a glass pellet the size of a small grain of rice. Using a syringe with a large bore needle, the microchip is injected into the connective tissue just beneath the skin. Located in the back, in between the shoulder blades, the area is easily scanned with a hand held device about the size of a steam iron.
The number on the chip is registered with the company and traceable to the vendor that inserted the chip. Or an owner can register with the company directly after the chip has been placed; the process of reuniting pet with owner will then be quicker.
All of our local shelters and humane organizations are scanning each pet that comes into their care.
According to Dr. Dan Knox of St. Louis County Rabies Control, his organization has be able to reunite several lost pets with their owners because the pets were identified with a microchip. Although, a few companies are competing for the microchip pet identification market, there is an effort to cooperate; each company’s scanner being able to read all types of chips.
I would encourage all pet owners to consider having their pets permanently identified with a microchip; it could save a pet’s life!
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, June 1995.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1995_06.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
