Pet Microchips - the New ID Tags
A revolutionary technology is reuniting lost pets with their guardians

If you are a pet guardian, you have probably imagined what it must be like to lose a beloved animal companion. It's the kind of situation that many people think could never happen to them. Yet according to the American Humane Association (AHA), approximately 6 million dogs and cats are lost every year in America. Of those, 17% of dogs are found by their guardians, and only 2% of cats are returned to their homes.

While most animal guardians take precautions to ensure that their pets won't escape, even indoor pets can sometimes find a way out of their homes. And many Americans still allow their pets to roam outside, only to be scared away from the house by unfamiliar, threatening sights and sounds. It doesn't take much to send a frightened cat or dog running out of his backyard, into unfamiliar territory. Once a domestic animal has become disoriented, it is unlikely that he will be able to retrace his steps to get back home again.

There is a solution to this problem, a solution much more effective than building fences or putting collars on indoor pets.

Pet microchips are technological marvels that have already had an amazing impact on the animal welfare community. In many animal shelters and veterinary offices, admitted stray animals are now routinely scanned for microchips., Often these animals are reunited with their adoptive families. Additionally, many adopting organizations, including Tree House, have begun to microchip animals before they are released to their new homes.

The procedure for microchipping is simple. A tiny microchip, only about the size of a grain of rice, is encapsulated within a biocompatible material and injected through a hypodermic needle under the animal's skin. The microchip is inserted between the shoulder blades near the base of the neck, where a thin layer of protein anchors the chip in place. The procedure takes only a matter of seconds, and it is simple and relatively painless for the animal. More importantly, your companion animal will have a permanent, positive identification that cannot be altered or removed.

Because the pet microchip is biocompatible, meaning it exists harmoniously within the animal's body, there is little chance of infection if inserted properly. It never needs to be replaced, and will remain active for the entire lifetime of the pet. The chip has no battery and emits no signal; it simply has a unique identification code. A quick wave of a microchip reader sends a radio signal to the chip and reads the identification number assigned to your pet. This process is similar to how a bar code on an item is read at the check-out counter.
  
Veterinarians across the country have begun to include microchipping as part of their routine procedures, and often offer a discount when guardians are having another procedure performed on their pet. The price to insert a microchip typically ranges from $25 - $40, which is a value considering the peace of mind you receive knowing that your pet can be identified and returned to you if he is ever lost.
  
Once a cat is microchipped, it's important to note that guardians need to send a registration form into the National Registry that a simple, relatively painless injection, will add their information to the microchip identification. Without this information form, the microchip identification will remain assigned to the original location where the microchip was implanted. Be sure to consult with the facility that microchips your pet to get more details about this procedure.