Wednesday, April 19, 2017

National Microchip Week

Everyone here has a microchip. And every animal adopted from the rescue and shelter all leave with microchips. In fact, we don't know of any rescue that doesn't microchip any more.

It really is the BEST way to make sure your pet gets home if they manage to escape for some reason. We always suggest collars and tags as well. If you don't want your cat wearing one in the house, we suggest having one for each cat just in case: in case people are coming over and the door will be opening and closing, in case you have to take a trip to the vet, in case of emergency.

However, you HAVE to make sure the chip is registered and UPDATED!! Mom can't begin to tell you how many times a lost animals comes in and either there is NO chip or the information is out of date.

Your pet doesn't have one? Check your local pet stores or rescues. Some will sponsor microchipping at a discounted rate and some stores have vet clinics on specific days that will chip your pet as well.

OK - so you have the chip and you got is registered. Great....now just make sure at annual check ups with your vet, they are checking for that microchip. It is reassuring to hear that beep, but until they heal under the skin, they can migrate. Or, in Ivy's case, it healed but she was chipped at 9 weeks old...so as she grew, that spot moved from between her shoulders to over one shoulder blade. If you watch someone scan, they should move the scanner from side to side and front to back to scan the whole animal just in case.

Remember, the chip doesn't put out a signal or anything - it isn't GPS. It has to be scanned for the number to come up and then a call made to the company to get your information.

This crew and their momma will get their microchips when they are spayed/neutered.

19 comments:

  1. And they continue to be mega cute. We can't wait for them to start moving around. Thanks for the message about the chips.

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  2. Great info on the chips. Those kittens are beginning to be soooooooooo cute. Have a great day.

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  3. I didn't have my resident cats 'chipped for the longest time. Even though I knew it should be done, they were indoor cats and I kept making excuses. Then there were a couple of high-profile natural disasters where people couldn't get back to their homes and pets were rescued by strangers. I realized that if that ever happened to us, I'd want a way for my guys to be identified and get back to me safely! They're done now.

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    1. we think that was an "aha" moment for a lot of people

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  4. Microchips are so important. We're all chipped up here, too.

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  5. We even microchipped The 'O' Cats, 'cause I'd go absolutely bonkers outta my head if one disappeared for more than a day. Good post!

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    1. that is mom's one regret with our feral girl Allie - she wishes that she had gotten Allie chipped when she was spayed

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  6. I remember finding cats with chips and the info was never updated. it was so annoying

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  7. So very important to be chipped!!! We always have ours checked, too!
    Cammie!

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  8. I'll be moving soon and updating the info on my two cats is on the list! It is so very important. Many more cats could be returned to their owners if the cats were (1) microchipped with (2) current information.

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    1. we had friends move to Utah and within a couple of days their older cat got out - she panicked and her first call was the chip company to update their info (fortunately their phone numbers hadn't changed)

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  9. My human should be embarrassed to admit that I'm the only one with an up-to-date chip! Binga's info is from two houses ago, and Boodie's has the info of her old rescue on it. She needs to fix that.

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  10. Thank you for writing this. My house was broken into in 2009 and my dog, Buddy was stolen along with some meaningless items like an ipod. He was in his crate and had his collar and was microchipped. I hired a pet detective, put up reward posters, went to all the local shelters. I finally gave up all hope of ever finding him. 4 1/2 yrs later I received a phone call from a shelter that's about 30 miles from where I was living. He had been picked up on the street. From the looks of him, he had been fairly well cared for except for dental. I'm assuming he wasn't taken to the vet. Anyway, if he hadn't been microchipped, I would have never been reunited with Buddy.

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    1. what a great reminder of how important it really is to not lose hope and keep that info updated. When Tommy got out, that was the one thing mom relied on was that he was chipped and up to date.

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  11. Great reminder, that's so important ! Purrs

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  12. Thank you for the reminders! The thought of one of the cats getting out and getting lost is a really scary one. Some people think that their cats are protected just because they had the microchip implanted, but that isn't the case. Way too many people don't register (and update) the info on the chip.
    -Purrs from your friends at www.PlayfulKitty.net

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  13. Sadly, our shelter does not microchip the animals. There have been a few fundraisers to raise $$ to microchip so some animals did get chipped before adoption. But it is not normally done. We wish it was.

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  14. Those babies are just adorable. All the cats at PAWS get chipped. Gracie and Zoe have them, too, and we always make sure to keep the info current.

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