Microchip your cat
After reading the comments on the post about An indoor cat is a safe cat it's obvious that some of us will have to agree to disagree about indoor vs. outdoor cats. However, I think it'd be really great if all the cat owners that let their cats run loose would at the very least "microchip" their cat. Then, when one of us animal lovers finds your pet and isn't sure if they have a home or not, we can track you down. The vet that took care of the adult cat that I mentioned in my earlier post, the one who showed up injured at my doorstep and required $300 in vet services, scanned the cat for a microchip but he didn't have one. If he did, we could have reunited him with his owner instead of finding him a new home. (And it would have saved his life if I had taken him to the pound instead of the vet.)
I've read several stories about owners reunited with their cats because of this new technology. Basically, your contact info is put on a microchip the size of a grain of rice and then injected under the skin of your cat. And unlike a traditional tag you put on a collar, this one won't come off. Just about any vet should be able to do this for you or know where you can get it done. I just watched a video on MSNBC.com about a cat that was reunited with his owner because of a microchip. The cat had somehow gotten 1600 miles away from his home!
A couple of companies with info on microchips for pets: 24PetWatch and Microchip Express.
I've read several stories about owners reunited with their cats because of this new technology. Basically, your contact info is put on a microchip the size of a grain of rice and then injected under the skin of your cat. And unlike a traditional tag you put on a collar, this one won't come off. Just about any vet should be able to do this for you or know where you can get it done. I just watched a video on MSNBC.com about a cat that was reunited with his owner because of a microchip. The cat had somehow gotten 1600 miles away from his home!
A couple of companies with info on microchips for pets: 24PetWatch and Microchip Express.
posted by Jackie at 10:02 AM
4 Comments:
Hi,
I have been reading lately that some scanners can not detect or read microchips that have been implanted by another type of scanner. I don't quite understand this, but I still agree that microchipping an animal could reunite more pets with owners and even save some lives. Even our local small county animal shelter has a scanner.
Jan
I'm a little late on this post, but I'll add my 2 cents on Janice's comment. Microchipping can work, but it is not a 100% solution.
Not unlike cell phones, computers, and other technology, pet microchip technology is *not* standardized. Until all chips can be read by all scanners, this idea will be only partially successful. Still, it could save your cat's life one day.
I read there are two different types.
Can you have a beloved cat chipped with BOTH? Would each interfere with the other?
Or are there even MORE?
Yes, the cat can have more than one chip. We took our cat from Australia to the US. The Australian chip can be read everywhere in the world except the US, so when we got to the US we put a US readable chip in the cat.
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