Microchipping Your Dog To Help Guarantee His Safety
For decades, owners have relied on identification tags around their canines' necks to minimize the likelihood of losing their pets
. The tags normally hang from collars. If an animal control officer finds your pet, a quick look at the tag will identify you as the owner. A single phone call may be all it takes to be reunited with your canine. Why, then, are so few pets reunited with their owners after becoming separated from them? Some are fortunate enough to be placed within new homes. Others are euthanized.
This can occur for a number of reasons. Collars can break, or fall from a dog's neck. Identification tags may be damaged. The tags can also become worn down to the point of being unreadable. For this and other reasons, microchipping pets has become popular. In this article, we'll explain how it works, and clarify a few common concerns owners have about them.
How Microchips Work
The chip is very small; it is no bigger than a grain of rice. It is inserted under your dog's skin between his shoulder blades, and emits radio waves that carry information about your pet. The chip, built of silicon, can be implanted with a specially-loaded syringe by a veterinarian or a trained employee at a qualified animal shelter. Doing so only requires a few seconds, and poses no more discomfort than a typical vaccination shot.
The radio waves transmitted by the microchip are coded to be read by a special scanner. When the scanner is held over the chip, an alphanumeric code is displayed. This code is unique to your dog, and can be cross-referenced with a database. The database entry lists your name and contact information, all of which you provide at the time of the chip's implantation.
If your canine becomes lost, and ends up at an animal shelter, the shelter employee can use the scanner to read his chip. Even in the event your pet's collar has fallen off, and his I.D. tags are too worn to read, the chip will give the employee everything he or she needs in order to contact you.
What Happens To The Microchip Over Time?
The chip is designed to remain under your canine's skin throughout his life. It does not need to be recharged, cleaned, or removed for any purpose. Normally, the tissue underneath the skin binds with the chip, and thus prevents it from migrating to other areas of your dog's body. This binding process usually occurs within the first twenty-four hours following implantation.
There are times, however, when the chip moves, though this seldom causes a problem. The microchip will not become lost or migrate outside your canine's body. Moreover, animal shelters and veterinary clinics realize there is a chance of migration. If they are unable to locate the microchip between your dog's shoulder blades, they will usually scan his entire body.
What Is A Universal Scanner?
The microchips are designed by different manufacturers. Each manufacturer designs their chip so that it transmits the radio waves on a different frequency. When the microchips first debuted, each frequency required a different scanner. This created a problem. For many animal shelters and veterinarians, buying a separate scanner to read each manufacturer's chip was cost-prohibitive. As a result, many stray pets with microchips implanted arrived at shelters and clinics that lacked the necessary scanners to read them.
This problem led to the design of a universal scanner that was capable of reading each manufacturer's microchip. Animal shelters and veterinary clinics could now purchase a single reader, which helped ensure all strays were scanned. This development has no doubt prevented many lost pets from being euthanized.
It's important to realize that microchipping, while being a valuable method for identifying lost canines, is fallible. Mistakes can occur. For this reason, continue to use ID tags on your pooch, even after having him microchipped.
by:Molly Mchannon
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