Dogs & Microchipping | How It Works & Why You Should Do It

June is National Pet Microchip Awareness Month! 

Microchipping your pets - even if they are indoor pets - is crucial to ensuring the security of your dogs in case they pull a Houdini and escape or are lost. It increases the chances of your dogs making a safe return home and adds some peace of mind for pet parents because of that. 

What is microchipping?

Microchipping is the act of implanting an electronic chip into an animal. Each microchip contains electronic data that includes select information. This typically includes the address of the pet owner. In other cases, microchips can be used by researchers to monitor the body temperatures of livestock and more. 

Will microchips track where my dog is if he or she gets out and is lost?

Unfortunately, microchips don’t act as a GPS device when your pet gets lost. The information it contains, however, can assist humane societies, shelters, and vets identify if they have a forever home when brought in by using a device that scans the chip without invasive procedures.

Are microchips painful for animals? How is it implanted?

The chip is not very large and is injected under the skin using a needle. While the needle is a tad larger than standard injections call for, it’s not painful to fur babies according to vets and has the equivalent sensation that comes from getting shots. 

Storytime! We love animals and we’re no strangers to taking in rescues and foster animals. So one day, we happened upon a cat that was new to our neck of the woods. We’ve never seen them before and they were incredibly friendly. 

Worried that someone was missing their cat, we picked up the fluff ball and brought him to the nearest vet clinic. They quickly scanned the chip and determined the cat belonged to a house nearby, but their address was slightly incorrect. We were able to call the owners, let them know we were bringing back the cat, and inform them they should update their microchip information. 

It’s a quick and easy process!

If you’re considering getting your dog microchipped, which we highly recommend, you can visit a veterinarian clinic. At times, you’ll also see shelters and events hosting microchipping services. Keep an eye out at local clinics and pet stores for information!