Microchipping

Our clients and beloved patients quickly become a part of the extended Orange Park Animal Hospital at Oakleaf “family.” It breaks our hearts to imagine this extended family going through the heartbreak of being separated. If your pup or cat gets loose, we want to ensure a reliable way to reunite you with your furbaby! Just as vaccines protect from life-threatening diseases, microchipping also provides protection of permanent separation.

This procedure involves placing a small (“micro”) electronic chip underneath your pet’s skin. The chip is about the size of a grain of rice. It is very safe, straightforward, and relatively painless. It is not considered a surgical procedure and doesn’t require anesthesia. Our primary veterinarian, Dr. James Gillen, will simply place the microchip under the skin behind the neck similar to any other injection during a routine visit or when completing another standard procedure (like neutering or spaying).

If you can’t find your pet, the chip will do the tracking for you. It works like this:

• Each chip contains a number. So, your pet has his or her unique identifier.

• A scanner activates the chip itself.

• Staff at the shelter, pound, rescue, or clinic that your pet is taken to will typically scan any lost animals for microchips right away.

• Radio waves emitted by the scanner trigger the chip, which transmits the identifier to the scanning device.

• Only this number can be seen on the monitor. No other personal or identifying information about you is provided. So, you can rest assured that no one will find out where you live or get ahold of your phone number.

• To ensure your pet is quickly reunited with you, it’s essential to register with the chip’s respective registry. Again, your privacy and security are paramount. Only the contact information you choose to provide will be available and used to connect you and your pet. You can opt out of providing any other information to the manufacturer. Protections are also in place to limit access to registrants’ contact information.

• It is vital to update your contact details should you move or change phone numbers. The American Veterinary Medical Association reports that microchipped pets are not returned to their owners most of the time due to incorrect contact info or a lack of information in the registry.

Microchips work! In a study of 7,700 pets, only 22% of non-microchipped dogs and 1.8% of non-microchipped cats were reunited with their owners. However, more than half of microchipped dogs and nearly 39% of microchipped cats were successfully reunited. If you just adopted or “inherited” a new pet and are unsure if he or she is chipped, we urge you to contact us. We can scan your pet to check for a chip. Likewise, if your pet isn’t chipped yet, we can easily do that during your next visit! Contact us today.