Lost-&-Found 'Maserati' Is Sweet Reminder To Microchip Pets

SAN DIEGO, CA – Animal Services officials urged San Diego County residents Tuesday to get their pets microchipped, noting that a missing puppy was reunited with her family after six weeks because of one.

The 5-month old pup, Maserati, went missing from her home in City Heights in December.

Candace Sallee, Maserati's owner, reported the dog lost or stolen on Dec. 21, but weeks passed without a trace of the canine.

California Highway Patrol officers found Maserati last Thursday in the process of arresting a woman in Dulzura. The CHP contacted Animal Services, which collected Maserati and took her to the county shelter in Bonita, where the canine was scanned for a microchip. She was reunited with her owner the next day.

"Absent that microchip, this dog owner would have never seen her pet again," said Animal Services Director Daniel DeSousa. "But because the owner had implanted Maserati with a microchip, the two have been happily reunited!"

According to her owner, Maserati had been microchipped a day before she went missing, and only at the behest of Sallee's friends.

"I was in shock. I didn't think we were going to get her back," Sallee said. "(The microchip) was definitely worth doing, 100 percent worth doing."

County residents can get their pets microchipped for $10 at the county's Animal Services shelters. Dogs, cats and rabbits are all eligible for the chip and walk-ins are welcome, according to the county.

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--City News Service/Image via SD County