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
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
Yep, super important for cats too. Thanks for your feedback.