Everyone knows the phrase, “home for the holidays” and it tends to conjure up thoughts of time with friends and family, and of course or furry family and friends too. But the holidays are also times of stress with people coming and going, decorations going up, lots of running around, and our animals are sensitive to the way we feel so when we are stressed, they can feel it to.
All of this can cause one of your worst fears to come true – your cat or dog darts out of the house and is lost. Whether they got startled by the noise, a door was left open when unloading the car, or they just managed to make an unnoticed escape, once your pet is lost, it can be incredibly hard to find them again.
That’s where microchipping comes in.
Microchips have been on the scene for years now, and they are commonly used all over the country, with the HomeAgain microchip being one of the most popular brands. Most of todays scanners can read any microchip, and most microchips can be read by any scanner, and this holds true for HomeAgain. The chip can be inserted similarly to a regular vaccination with no surgery or anesthesia necessary. And they are very affordable, making it the best way to increase the odds of your pet finding their way home in the event that they were to ever get lost.
Keep your pets home for the holidays and covered with a HomeAgain microchip
Why Microchip Your Cat or Dog?
These statistics, provided by HomeAgain microchip via Petfinder’s microchipping article, indicate that missing pets rarely make it home:
- The American Humane Association estimates over 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S. every year.
- One in three pets will become lost at some point during their life.
A study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, including 53 animal shelters across the U.S., confirmed the high rate of return of microchipped dogs and cats to their families, and the importance of microchip registration. From the study:
- Only about 22 percent of lost dogs that entered the animal shelters were reunited with their families. However, the return-to-owner rate for microchipped dogs was over 52 percent (a 238 percent increase).
- Less than 2 percent of lost cats that entered the animal shelters were reunited with their families. The return-to-owner rate for microchipped cats was dramatically higher at over 38 percent (more than 2000 percent better).
- Only 58 percent of the microchipped animals’ microchips had been registered in a database with their pet parent’s contact information.
What Should You Do?
If your pet is already microchipped – great! Take a few minutes to log into the website and make sure that all of your contact information is current so that you can be united with your pet in case they get lost.
If your pet isn’t microchipped, make an appointment with your veterinarian today to get your pet microchipped. Once that is done, make sure to register your pet’s microchip online to ensure that if they ever get lost, you can be contacted.
Here at the Animal Hospital of Sussex County, we use the HomeAgain microchip because of it’s advanced technology and reliability as well as the ease of application to your pet. You can read more microchipping services right here on our website under Small Animal Services, on the HomeAgain microchip page.
