“Fluffy is having her ovariohysterectomy, spay, surgery today, Mrs. Jones, and this would be a perfect time to proceed with the AVID microchip we discussed during her puppy vaccination series. Would you like for Dr. Randolph to put that in today while Fluffy is anesthetized?”
“I’ve thought it over since we first talked and I’ve decided not to get the microchip. Fluffy is never far away from one family member or another, so I don’t see the usefulness of it in her case.”
Mrs. Jones cited a common reason for deciding against a microchip for a pet.
Microchips are all about planning for the unplanned. No one ever plans to be separated from his pet, yet it happens thousands of times each day around the country.
People have automobile accidents and their pets are thrown from the vehicles. The human occupants go to a hospital and the pets, if not properly restrained in the vehicle, wander around lost until someone picks them up. Without permanent identification they may never be reunited with their owners.
Hurricane Katrina separated untold thousands of pets from their owners. Those with properly registered and updated microchips were reunited. The few whose collars survived the flooding and destruction and who had identification on their collars were reunited. Many thousands more, however, lost their collars, tags and thus their families. This cannot happen with a microchip.
While traveling we take our pets out of our cars at rest stops along Interstate highways, perhaps on the opposite side of the country from our homes. The sounds, the smells, the surroundings are all unfamiliar. An 18-wheeler roars by. Our dog spooks and breaks his leash. Will we be able to catch him? If we can’t, but an Animal Control Officer does, will the officer be able to find us?
Do we really want to lie awake at night wondering?
See you tomorrow, Dr. Randolph.
