Far too often members of our Nall Hills Animal Hospital staff hear the sad stories of small pets that disappeared from their homes. All it takes is a door ajar or a loose window screen. Unfortunately, every year, many cats and dogs are victims of thieves. One quick and easy way to make your pet’s life safer is pet microchipping from our veterinarian in Overland Park.
Benefits of Pet Microchipping in Overland Park
It is often difficult for a pet separated from its owner to make its way home. These animals sometimes become frightened and disoriented, making it even harder for owners to hunt for and locate them. Pet microchipping is a fast, simple procedure that can deliver peace of mind to families with small pets.
Microchipping for dogs and cats uses a registry to store pet and owner information without exposing animals to any unsafe technology. Unlike collars with tags, which can easily become detached, microchipping for cats and dogs is a permanent way of storing owner contact information.
The procedure is convenient. Our veterinarian can perform it in just a few minutes, during an appointment scheduled for microchipping or a regular pet checkup.
How a Pet Microchip Works
Our veterinarian implants a microchip—as small as just one grain of rice—by injecting it beneath the skin between a pet’s shoulder blades. You can rest assured that microchipping for dogs and cats is not a painful procedure. Your pet feels at most a quick pinch, much like that associated with receiving a vaccination.
A microchip transmits its unique number at a passive frequency. It only delivers information when scanned and has no power source within it. This means no exposure to harmful rays for a pet with a chip.
The device is a computer chip containing information that could save a pet’s life. The most updated microchipping for cats and dogs integrates these chips with a pet recovery program that issues an immediate alert when an animal becomes lost.
Each chip has a unique number that is permanently stored in the manufacturer’s online registry after implantation. The information linked to each chip number includes:
- Owner’s name
- Pet’s name
- Pet description
- Owner’s telephone number
- Owner’s address
- Owner’s email address
- Our animal hospital’s contact information
A pet microchip is essentially maintenance-free. Owners must be sure, however, to notify the manufacturer’s registry whenever there is a change in their information to facilitate the quickest contact once a lost pet has been located.
Schedule an Appointment with Our Veterinarian in Overland Park
Our Nall Hills Animal Hospital has been proudly serving the community since 1974. We provide a collaborative setting in which every staff member becomes involved in your pet’s care. Don’t risk losing a pet that you consider a member of your family. Prevent unnecessary heartache by contacting us today at 913-341-8836 to schedule an appointment with our veterinarian in Overland Park and learn more about pet microchipping for your furry companion.
Pet Microchipping FAQs
I've heard that my pet should be microchipped. Can I get this procedure from an Overland Park vet near me?
You certainly can! If you’ve been running searches on an “Overland Park vet near me,” look no further than Dr. Teeter, Dr. Warren, or Dr. Minor here at Nall Hills Animal Hospital!
What is a microchip?
A microchip is an extremely simple RFID (radio frequency identification) transceiver. The chip is encoded with a unique identifier number that refers to your pet; sentry in a national pet locator database.
Is microchipping a surgical procedure?
Contrary to what some owners might think, microchipping involves no surgery whatsoever. The microchip is so tiny that your Overland Park veterinarian can inject it beneath the animal’s skin via syringe, just like a vaccination.
How does the microchip transmit its information?
The microchip doesn’t require its own internal power source; instead, it automatically reacts to the energy of a RFID scanning device. When an animal health worker scans your pet with such a device, the microchip sends its ID number to the device. It’s then a simple matter to look up the ID number, find your contact information, and contact you to let you know that your pet has been found.
My pet already has a collar tag. Why does he also need a microchip?
As helpful as collar tags certainly are, they have one distinct disadvantage — they’re not permanent. A collar tag, or even the collar it’s attached to, can fall away or be torn off, making your pet completely unidentifiable unless he also has a microchip.
If my pet has a microchip, does he no longer need a collar tag?
Don’t assume that a microchip is a “replacement” for a collar tag. These tags are still the first thing the average person will look for if he finds your pet, and then contain other helpful data such as the pet’s names and vaccination dates as well. Think of the microchip is your pet’s second form of ID.
How effective is microchipping?
Microchipping has been shown to make a major difference in reuniting pets with their owners. Non-microchipped dogs find their way home only 21.9 percent of the time, while microchipped dogs enjoy this happy ending over 52.2 percent of the time. The difference in cats is even more significant, with only 1.8 percent of non-microchipped cats (as opposed to 38.5 percent of microchipped cats) being returned to their owners.
