Rusty, a young Golden Retriever, came in to the emergency veterinary hospital with his tail wagging. Unfortunately, he was unable to walk. A police officer had found the dog in a busy intersection and as soon as the officer stepped out of his car, Rusty came crawling across the street to greet him with relief.

We quickly discovered that Rusty had a broken pelvis. Despite his very painful injury, he dutifully attempted to lick the hands of anyone who tried to examine him. And although Rusty had his name stitched in red on his collar, he had lost his ID tag. We used a microchip scanner to check for a microchip but found none. There was no way to contact Rusty's owner. Sadly, we were forced to give Rusty a prescription of pain medication and send him to the shelter in the hopes that his owner would track him down there.

"Please Microchip me I don't ever want to be lost"

The Case of the Curious Cat

Socks, a black and white short-haired cat, came to the emergency clinic hissing. Like Rusty, she had also been hit by a car. Fortunately, her injuries were limited to only bruises and skin wounds. She had no collar, but as we do with every stray or injured pet that is brought to a veterinary hospital, we scanned her for a microchip. Not only did Socks have a microchip, the owner had remembered to register the chip with her new information after moving three times. She was quite surprised to hear that Socks was alive, as the cat had been missing for six months. Apparently, Socks had been an indoor cat, but slipped outside one day and hadn't been seen since.

A simple injection protects your pet for life

Should your pet be microchipped?

We think every pet should be microchipped. A nice collar with a shiny ID tag on your pet is not a guarantee that your cat or dog will be brought back to you if it is lost or injured. It is all too easy for a collar to slip off or for the writing on an ID tag to be rubbed to the point of illegibility. The procedure for placing a microchip is quick and easy. We insert a chip (about the size of a grain of rice) under your pet's skin. The chip has a barcode number that can be read by any scanner. The number is then registered with your contact information and can be updated whenever you move or change phone numbers.

Every stray pet that is brought in to an animal shelter or emergency clinic is scanned. All of our microchips are ISO (International Organization for Standardization) compliant, so that they may be "read" by any scanner. Not only is a microchip the most reliable way to identify your pet if lost, it is also necessary for international travel.

Quick and painless

Take advantage of our spring microchip special. Get your pet microchipped now and we'll teach you how to self-register on your home computer. During the months of April, May and June the cost of microchipping is now only $42.00 - a savings of 50%.