Check the Chip Day
This Thursday, August 15th, is 2024’s Check the Chip Day. No, I’m not referring to a poker chip, chocolate chip, or potato chip. Check the Chip Day is all about making sure our pets are microchipped and our contact information with the microchip registry is current.
Microchips are tiny, rice-sized, metal chips placed via a needle under the skin of dogs, cats, horses. When the microchip is scanned, as in the picture above, it displays a number that can be used to locate the animal’s owner.
Last year, Newsweek ran a story of Bella, a Maltese, stolen in Chicago in 2021. Two years later, the little dog was discovered running alongside a road in the rain. The good Samaritan took her to a local shelter. She had a microchip, but the owner’s contact information was no longer current (a dead-end microchip). Fortunately, a volunteer group called the Microchip Hunters were able to track down Bella’s mom.
In honor of “Check the Chip Day” here are three ways to increase the odds of a happy ending should you and your pet be separated:
If your pet has a microchip, contact the microchip registry to verify that all of your contact information there is current.
If your pet has a microchip that was never registered, get the paperwork squared away ASAP.
If your pet. doesn’t have a microchip, schedule an appointment with your veterinarian, local humane society, or animal shelter to have one placed.
There are several databases that allow you to register your pet’s microchip, but the one that is most important is the database maintained by the manufacturer of your pet’s microchip. The American Animal Hospital Association’s Universal Pet Microchip Lookup Tool is an Internet-based application that is linked to registries of the majority of microchip manufacturers. You can use it to quickly access your pet’s microchip data.
Will Your Pet’s Microchip Bring Him Home?
Unfortunately, microchipping isn’t foolproof, not because the chips are defective, but rather because of human error. All too many people fail to register their pet’s microchip and maintain current contact information.
At the time your dog or cat is microchipped, be sure to complete the registration materials and have them processed with the appropriate registry. Update your microchip data (telephone number, email address, street address) whenever it changes.
Do you have a microchip story that reunited a pet and owner? If so, I would love to hear it.
Best wishes to you and your four-legged family members for abundant good health.
Dr. Nancy
Great post. Also an excellent reminder.
Great post Dr. Nancy! Microchipping your dog is CRITICAL because it is proof of ownership. If someone finds your dog and keeps it, a microchip is your best bet for proving to law enforcement that the dog belongs to YOU and your family. And the registration part is what so many pet owners fail to understand. It is like when you buy a car--you pay the dealership for the car (you adopt the dog from the shelter) but then you must REGISTER the car with Department of Motor Vehicles (you must register your pet's chip with the microchip company--ask your vet to help you if you don't know what microchip company to contact). But I just wanted to add in here for your readers who also have cats just how critical microchipping is for cats. We (Missing Animal Response Network) have seen SO many cases where owners of indoor-only cats did NOT chip their cats because they said, "We never let him outside so why should we chip him?" and then their cat escapes outside! And the ironic (and scary!) part is that indoor-only cats that escape outside often LOOK AND ACT LIKE A FERAL CAT because they hiss and act feral when they are displaced into unfamiliar territory. And the scary part is that animal shelter staff will typically assume that a hissing, spitting, feral-looking cat is UNTAME and potentially may euthanize the cat immediately, not even holding it the required 3 days. This depends on the shelter's policies, but the point is that indoor-only cats SHOULD BE MICROCHIPPED in the event that they escape outside during a house fire, burglary, guest who leaves a door open, cat jumps off an apartment balcony, cat pushes out a window screen and escapes outside, and the myriad of other ways that indoor-only cats escape outside! Here is a video of a sad case where a missing cat (not even a displaced cat) was humanely trapped by a neighbor, taken to a shelter, and because the cat hissed and spat it was euthanized. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8s2lVAh67E