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.