Lost and Found

If you were to look at the nightstand by my bed, you'd see a messy pile of magazines, books, newspapers, other articles, and chocolate bar wrappers (my kids affectionately refer to it as "Mom's Mess'). Well...I was skimming through "Mom's Mess" the other day and found an article about advances in returning lost animals to their owners using microchip technology.

The November edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) gives details about how the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) is launching a startup company that will help reunite lost animals with their families. Many of us are already familiar with the process of micro chipping and the companies which provide these services (American Kennel Club's Companion Animal Recovery, Intervet/Schering-Plough's HomeAgain, Bayer's resQ, and Datamars' PetLink.)

Although this micro chipping process has certainly helped reunite many lost pets with their owners, the system is far from perfect. Data bases can be incomplete, and many of them are not updated on a regular basis. Currently, microchip providers in the U.S. offer about half a dozen major registries in which pet owners can enter information. What AAHA wants to do is establish one single source for recovering information from microchip registries. The hope is that this will create many more happy endings for reuniting pets and their families.

What are your thoughts about using microchips for our pets? Do many of you have your animals micro-chipped and do you think it gives people a false sense of security? I'm interested in your thoughts.

--Dana

*If you're interested in learning more about this issue, you can visit AAHA's website: www.petmicrochiplookup.org. You can also learn more by visiting www.checkthechip.com.  

Comments

[Laurel]

My pets absolutely never get out on their own, so I haven't done it. I think it's a great idea if animals roam or have a chance to get lost. One of the problems I've heard, though, is that the chips aren't "read" and the owners contacted consistently enough when they're found. And, if a lost animal is found by another family, they have no way of reading the chip. Is that true?

I'm not well informed about this...I should learn more.

[Tammy]

I also haven't ever had my pets microchipped. They are never allowed outside alone - and have not ever escaped. So, for now, I feel OK with not having them chipped. I do think if I ever have a pet that could potentially escape or get lost, I would go for it. I know it's not a foolproof system, but I think it's a help at least.

When I took Henry to the vet here in our new town, the tech wanded him for a microchip. I had no idea what she was doing, so I asked! I'd never seen that before. I thought it interesting that they just did it as a matter of course for a new animal to their practice. (I do think mentioning what they were doing would have been a good idea, but she wasn't very forth-coming with information!)

[Dana]

Thanks for your comments...microchipping has definitely reunited pets with owners (ones that wouldn't have found each other otherwise).