Microchipping Your Pet – Why It’s Important

Being able to have some sort of identification on your pet is important – it allows for people to find the owner if the pet ever goes missing.
Tags and collars can unfortunately come off – but there is a solution to this: microchipping. One thing I will note is that there is a small group of people who are skeptical about this.
A microchip usually goes into the back of the neck, and when a scanner goes over it, it picks up the microchip number, which can be searched online and the details of the owner can be found.

The best thing about the microchip is that the details of the owner can be found and the owner of the animal can be contacted.
It is the responsibility of the owner to keep the information as up to date as possible, this includes phone numbers, addresses, other contacts, etc.

If for instance someone gives you a dog that has a microchip in, you will have to phone the microchip company to update the details and transfer the contact details into your name, instead of the previous owner’s. Do this as soon as you can – because you never know when your pet might go missing.

Having said all that, here’s why it’s important to microchip your pet:
– If it lands up at a vet or an animal welfare organization, they will be able to contact you and let you know where your pet is.
– If you have a lost pet, and happen to see it in someone else’s garden/property, you will be able to contact your nearest vet/animal welfare organization to come and scan the dog, and with it having a microchip, you will be able to prove that it’s your dog.

Another thing to note:
If your pet gets lost and ends up at a welfare organization and it has a microchip in, and something happens where you can’t keep the pet anymore, you will need to come in to sign the pet over to the animal welfare organization so that it can go up for adoption. The welfare organization will also ensure that the microchip details are changed so that the microchip is in the new owner’s name instead of the old owner’s name.

Occasionally it happens where the owner of the animal can’t be contacted, but then the owner rocks up two weeks later wanting their animal back. Please note that if this is the case, it is highly likely that you will need to adopt the animal back.

One last thing I want to mention before signing off:
If you happen to find a lost animal, if you don’t want to take it to an animal welfare organization, please ensure that you go to a vet to get the animal scanned to check if there might not be a microchip in the animal. It will ensure that the animal gets back to its rightful owner.

Last, but not least – this blog post is part of the Pet Ownership 101 series – other posts will also be available under this category.

And, as always, please always practice responsible pet ownership.

Blog Post By Your Pet Caring Friend,
Carmen Harris.