Make Sure Your Pet is Never Lost but Always Found
Besides being a Veterinarian with medical responsibilities, I have also been asked to be “Pet Detective”. The typical scenario is when someone walks into the clinic with a dog or cat that they found, fell in love with, and now want to keep. Part of my job during these “new pet” appointments is to make sure that the “new pet” does not in fact have another home. By now of course, ID tags have been checked and flyers have been posted. However, I have to go a step beyond and check all other pet identification methods before new owners commit to a found pet. Here are all the ID methods I check and all the ways you can help keep your pet identified.
Tags
These are the old stand-by and the first line of pet identification. If your pet is ever lost with their collar on and someone finds them, this is the quickest way for you pet to be returned. Sadly many pets don’t even have collars on their pet or even any tags! Don’t be that owner. Be sure your pet has a collar and a few tags. One should be the typical ID tag with pets name and your cell phone number. The next tag should be proof of rabies vaccination. This can help “Pet Detective” when ID tags are missing because most have Veterinary clinics phone numbers on them and rabies tag numbers.
All this is helpful if your pet’s collar and tags are on, but what if the collar comes off or is taken off?
Microchips
This is the best way to give your pet permanent identification. Microchips are implanted under the skin with a simple one-time injection, done by your veterinarian or local shelter. The Microchip stays under the skin and is found using a scanner, which reveals the microchip number and manufacturer of the chip. Shelters and Vets scan most newly-found pets to be sure they don’t already have a home. The most important part is that your pet’s microchip is registered to your name and that the contact information provided is current. Using the chip number, veterinarians and shelters call the manufacturer to get the contact information for the pet’s owner.
Tattooing
This is a fairly uncommon pet ID method these days. I’ve most frequently seen it done by European breeders of working dogs or, in the U.S., for purpose-bred dogs (racing dogs for example).
GPS Collars
This is one of the latest methods for pet recovery. Basically your dog wears a collar with a GPS unit on it. There are a variety of manufacturers each with different services associated with their product, so do your homework and see which one is right for you, as most require a monthly fee for their services. One of the more popular ones is Global Pet finder, below is a picture of their collar unit. The catch is that your pet must have the collar on. Sometimes collars come off, so keep that in mind for all collar ID methods.
My best advice is to have a minimum of two forms of ID on your pet. A microchip and a collar ID.
--Dr. Hamilton
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Dr. Hamilton is an oncology resident at Michigan State's Animal Cancer Care Clinic and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.
Brenda on August 20, 2008 at 08:14 AM
Great advice and reminders...thank you!