Pet Identification: Why Not?

This is another repost from my personal blog this past January. The info is updated to reflect our next microchip clinic.

Identification for a pet seems so simple, yet too many pets go without. We see them every week at Animal Control. They have collars, but no I.D. or rabies tags or microchip, and, unfortunately, only five days to be reclaimed. I look into their faces, see them wag their tails, sit on command, give their paw and clamor for affection. It is all affection they should be sharing with their owners, who, for whatever reason, never came to animal control to see if their pet was there, or never brought a flyer with photo identification so they could be called. They don't know what their fate is in five days, but they have a sense that they aren't supposed to be there, nor do they want to be. Sometimes, we're the last friendly pat on the head or scratch behind the ears they get. We just don't have room for them all, but neither does animal control. They do what they can, allowing licensed rescues to take animals out for adoption, but that won't save them all.

In an effort to lower euthanasia rates at animal control, Coastal Pet Rescue began offering low-cost microchipping clinics to the public three years ago. Before we started the clinics, we asked area vets how many of their clients were getting their pets chipped. The number was very minimal, and that means an unnecessary increase in the homeless pet population. Overwhelmingly, it seems cost was a factor. I know some vets were charging $30 to $60, but it's not all their fault. Avid and HomeAgain charge registration fees, and then charge you again to update the information. Subsequently, too many times contact information isn't updated and the pet can't be reunited. I would rather spend $100 to see that my pet never ended up in a gas chamber, but not so many other folks share that sentiment. I've even been in the office when an owner was notified their pet was there and they told animal control to keep it. It makes me sick to see how little value is given to the life of a pet.

Coastal Pet Rescue's next microchip clinic will take place Saturday, April 14 from 1 to 4 pm at Memorial Park on Tybee Island (next to City Hall). For just $10, pets will be microchipped with a 24PetWatch microchip. There is no cost for updating information after registration, and 24PetWatch provides online tools to help reunite your pets when they get lost. Additionally, the chips can be read by any scanner at shelters, rescues and animal control facilities.

It's just $10, $10 to keep a pet from a tragic end. It doesn't seem that inconvenient to me.