National Lost Pet Prevention Month
Did you know that each year, approximately 10 million pets are lost in the United States? It’s even more astonishing to know that of those animals, its estimated that 80% of them are not found or return home. Spaying or neutering your pet greatly reduced the risk of your pet roaming away from home. An added safety measure for your pet to return home in the event they run away from home is to have your pet microchipped.
We offer microchipping at the time of surgery to heighten your pet’s chance of returning home if they by chance escape from your care. We use Michelson Found Animals microchips. They are a nonprofit established after the wake of Hurricane Katrina to help improve the outcomes for pets to return home. Because animals were found in Canada needing be returned home in the States after Hurricane Katrina, the founder, Dr. Michelson, firmly believed in using an ISO International Standard microchip with the highest frequency of 134.2 kHz.
The concept is a simple, and rather small solution to such a big problem. The way that microchipping works, is a small microchip, about the size of a rice grain, is inserted under the skin between the pet’s shoulders. This microchip is a radio-frequency transponder that carries a unique number. Think of it as a social security number but your pet doesn’t have pockets to carry around their social security card so we insert it under their skin. We register your pet’s microchip for you where you can then create an account with Michelson Found Animals to keep your contact information up to date. Any time a lost pet is brought into a shelter or veterinary clinic, the pet is scanned in hopes that they have a microchip. If the pet has a microchip, the unique number can be searched among the store databases kept by all microchipping companies. That microchip number is then linked to the owner’s contact information on file in the database. It is crucial to keep your contact information updated with the database of your pet’s microchipping company. It is important to note that a microchip is not a GPS tracker so it should not be relied on in that fashion.
In addition to the benefits of spay/neuter and microchipping, there is another way to prevent lost pets. All pets are required to be licensed in the county they live in. We also offer pet licensing for Pierce County and Tacoma City residence. By licensing your pet at Northwest Spay and Neuter Center, your pet’s rabies vaccination during the time of surgery will be at no charge to you!
We strongly believe that pets are amazing creatures and belong with us at home. By choosing to have your pet microchipped, you are taking one more step to ensure your pet’s safety.