Microchipping

Microchipping your pet is recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association and the Humane Society of the United States.

Surprised to hear that statistic? Well, you're not alone. There are many misunderstandings and myths about microchipping out there. But we're here to clear up any confusion. Here is some additional information you may not know about microchips:

A microchip does NOT store any of your information. The only piece of information that a microchip contains is a unique nine, 10, or 15-digit number (think of it as your pet's social security number). In order for the microchip to work, it must be registered in an online registry.  Without a registration, the microchip is just a useless piece of internal jewelry for your cat or dog. An unregistered microchip in a pet is extremely hard to trace back to the owner, and a busy shelter may not have the time or resources to track down that information. Remember: the registration needs to be updated if you ever move or change your phone number.

It is another common misconception that just because the shelter microchipped your pet when you adopted him from the shelter, the microchip is automatically registered to you. In fact, your pet's microchip may still be registered to the shelter, or even to the previous owner. It could even still be unregistered after all this time, if the shelter never registered it on your behalf.

 A microchip is NOT a GPS. You cannot locate or track your pet with its microchip. Microchips are passive transponders, meaning they don't contain any power source, so they have no way to let out a signal when your pet is lost. In fact, the chip doesn't do anything at all until a scanner is passed over it. That's when the microchip uses the energy produced by the scanner to emit a unique code, which then appears on the scanner. Pet GPS collar tags are available, but thankfully, they're worn on the outside.

 You can register any brand of microchip with any registry. AND you can register a microchip in multiple registries. For example, if your pet has an AVID microchip, you can register it with HomeAgain, AKC, and Found Animals.

Your pet can be microchipped at any time and at any age.  Call Churchville Veterinary Hospital to set up an appointment.  

Did you know that according to a study conducted by the American Veterinary Medical Association, dogs are 2.5 times more likely and cats are a whopping 21.4 times more likely to be returned to their home from a shelter if they have a registered microchip?


Save This Life has patented a way to use Google to help you find your lost pet! Each Save This Life microchip number is searchable in Google. When someone finds a pet and Googles the microchip number, they can privately contact the pet owner through text and email. The pet owner receives a GPS map of where the person who found their pet is located!