Every year over 10 million pets go missing in the United States alone and over 6.5 million or 65% never find their way home. This is a scary statistic, but not one that your pet needs to become a part of. Making sure that your pet has the proper up to date identification can go a long way in the road to reunification.
Many people believe that losing a pet could never happen to them; either because their pets are very well-behaved or they keep their homes secure. There are many reasons that your pet might become lost.
- Maybe you are traveling for the holidays or making a big move. This can be very stressful for pets and they may wander off in search of more familiar areas or their previous home.
- Increased anxiety around the holidays. Holiday seasons at any time of year can mean loud music and a busy house. The unexpected new intrusions can be nerve-wracking for even the most calm of pets and they can attempt to seek shelter in quieter locations, including outside the home
- Failure of barriers. There can be any number of reasons that barriers may stop working like faulty electric wiring or your fence becomes damaged. It’s important to keep regular maintenance on whatever barrier you have in place; but a pet might take the lapse in coverage as an opportunity to make a run for it
- Forgetfulness of visitors. Whether it’s your pet sitter, family or friends visiting, or even a handyman or remodeling crew; if you have a lot of foot traffic in and out of your house it can leave the door open (literally) for your pet to slip through.
- Pet Theft. We don’t want to think of the possibility of someone purposefully taking our pet, but the facts are that over 2 million pets are stolen each year with the majority being purebred dogs and cats for purposes of reselling or breeding.
So let’s say the worst has happened, your pet is missing. One of your best, most effective chances of being reunited with your pet is if they have the proper ID tags or microchip.
ID TAGS;
ID tags are the first line of protection when it comes to bringing your lost pet home. The most important information to have is an up to date phone number that you can be reached at immediately after your pet has been found. Some other helpful info that could be included are things like; “I’m microchipped,” “Rx needed” if they are on any medications, or impairments such as “blind”, or “deaf”. Many pet stores have engraving machines where you can purchase a tag, or custom designs can be ordered on the internet that fit your specific needs or styles!
Microchipping
Sometimes ID tags might not be the best option to aid in your pets return. They may become damaged or lost, you might not have put the collar on, or in the case of cats they might not be tolerant of them. This is where the next line of defense comes in; microchipping.
Did you know that according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA); lost dogs with microchips are returned at a rate of 52.2%, compared to just 21.9% without. For cats, the difference is even more notable; cats that are microchipped are reunited at the rate of 38.5%, vs. the 1.8% of cats who were not chipped.
Microchipping is a quick procedure that’s similar to getting a vaccine. Once it’s implanted it stays for life; with no additional discomfort or interruptions to daily activities. The most important thing to remember with microchipping is to get it registered with your information, and continuously update it with any new changes. When your pet receives the chip, the administering party will give you the microchip company information and number so you can go online and register your pet. Many times adopted pets come pre microchipped as part of the adoption fee; but will initially be registered to the adoption agency. When they give you the registration information you will need to get it switched over to you! Many places like veterinarian offices, police departments, or pet stores can scan for chips and obtain the pet owners contact information, so you want to make sure the information is accurate to get reunited quickly!
Many shelters, clinics, and pet stores host low cost microchipping events in an effort to get pets reunited with owners so they don’t end up in overcrowded shelter situations! You can keep an eye on your local community pages to find one closest to you!
If you need more evidence of the power of microchipping; here is a story of a local woman who lived in Tennessee in 2011 and had a puppy named Lucy who disappeared out of her yard. She searched the local animal shelters, hung fliers, and posted internet ads looking for her. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to find her and moved to Pennsylvania later that same year. In 2020; nine years later her mom received a phone call from an animal shelter in Tennessee, stating that her number was listed as the secondary contact information for the microchip that was on a dog that had been picked up. That’s right. Because she had gotten Lucy microchipped before she had gone missing, she was able to be reunited with her all these years later!