Welcome back to Talking Tails!
It’s time to check your chip! August 15 is National Check the Chip Day. The event was created by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) to remind pet owners to check their pet’s microchip information annually and keep it up-to- date. Having a microchip with current information greatly increases your chances of being reunited with your family if you get lost or stolen. We just hate to think about that ever happening.
If you don’t have a microchip, you need your human to make this happen soon. It’s easy to get one and not too painful. The microchip is only about the size of a grain of rice and is encoded with a unique ID number. It is injected, similar to a regular vaccination, into the skin between the shoulder blades. Buster was microchipped at the vet when he was neutered. This is common practice since he was already under sedation and wouldn’t feel the chip being injected. Joey got his chip at the Humane Society of Charlotte. They chip all their animals and put the shelter down as a secondary contact. If Joey was lost and our mom or dad could not be reached, then he would be taken to the Humane Society rather than Animal Control. We shuttered for the second time while writing this post because the thought of being separated from our humans is just incomprehensible. Let your humans know that the Humane Society of Charlotte holds Critter Care Wellness Wednesdays. They will microchip you for $15.
If you are microchipped…kudos to your humans…but remember that is not enough. It is essential to have your humans check the chip to be sure that your address and phone number are accurate. They can check your registration information in the microchip manufacturer’s database. If they don’t know the manufacturer of your microchip… shame on them…the AAHA’s Universal Pet Microchip Lookup Tool (http://www.petmicrochiplookup.org) can help. If they don’t know your microchip number…they need to get it together…they can simply take you to the vet and you can be scanned.
Here’s to never being separated from our family and having accurate microchip information in case we are!
Talk to you soon!
Buster and Joey
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