May is “Chip Your Pet” month and I’d like to share my view on why it’s a good idea to be microchipped.

Try as our pet parents might, sometimes we get “misplaced”. A door or a window is left open, a screen gets pushed out – in a matter of moments, we vanish. Even worse, a disaster such as a fire or a storm makes it necessary to evacuate your home – fast. A pet carrier breaks and we get out, we get frightened and we run. And as anyone who has ever chased a kitty knows, we are quick!

A lot of us wear a collar with tags, but those can get lost. So, even if we are fortunate enough to be found by a Good Samaritan, they have no way of helping us get home.

How Does a Microchip Work?

A microchip is a tamper-proof and permanent way for our pet parents to be located in the event that we go missing and are found. It’s a small electronic chip that is injected by a hypodermic needle under the skin between our shoulder blades. Each chip is assigned a unique number and once the chip is in place, your parent registers the chip’s number and their contact information – this is super important! And should their contact information change, they must update it – that’s super important too!

A found pet can be scanned for a microchip at any vet clinic or shelter. If they have a chip, the phone number for the registry will be provided so the finder can contact them. The pet parent will be contacted based on the instructions in the registry’s database. Some people choose to have the registry give their contact number to the finder so they can be contacted directly and others choose to have all contact go through the registry.

We all know our pet parents love us and would never intentionally let us get misplaced. But Cats, they are only human and mistakes and unexpected things do happen. A microchip gives the greatest possibility of a found pet getting back home.

If you’re not microchipped, I hope your human will contact your vet clinic and get the ball rolling to microchip you. Now speaking of rolling balls – I’ve got something to chase!

Here’s looking at you, Kits!

Ivan