Do your pets have ID?

As pet owners, we do a lot to show how much we actively value our pets. Often considering them a part of the family, we spend plenty of time and money on their comfort, health, and overall well-being. From buying the most nutritious foods to making the time for those long walks and supplementing our pets' happiness with new toys and a comfy bed, most of us would say we are responsible and thorough pet owners. The one thing many pet owners overlook, however, may surprise you. This could be the easiest thing we can do for our pets with the greatest impact on their safety: making sure they are clearly identified.

Pets of all kinds go missing for all kinds of reasons. Maybe someone forgot to close the gate. Perhaps your rambunctious pet got off their lead at the park. Official statistics vary, but ItstheDogsLife.com claims that up to one in three pets will go missing at some point during their life. If this were to happen to your pet, you would certainly want to do everything you could to find them, right? Well, there are some important steps you can take before such an upsetting thing ever occurs that will make all the difference.

When pets go missing, the clear dividing factor between pets that find their way home and those that don't is very often whether or not they are tagged and microchipped. The importance of these small steps can't be overstated. The Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine tells us, "According to a research study, the return rate for lost animals with microchips was 20 times higher for cats and 2 ½ times higher for dogs compared to lost animals without that identification device." Both of these simple precautions take little effort for pet owners and pay off manifold. Now, to help raise awareness for Nation Pet ID Week, April 21-27, we encourage you to keep these easy tips in mind:

For your pet's tags, remember:

• A collar with tags is your first line of defense. More than just a stylish accessory, a collar indicates to a would-be Good Samaritan that this animal is not a stray and is safe to approach.
• Be sure that the collar fits closely around your pet's neck, allowing enough looseness for comfort and easy of movement and breathing, but not so loose as to be able to slip out of it!
• When your information changes-- even just your phone number-- be sure to update your pets' tags immediately! An out-of-date tag may be as useless as no tag at all.

When having your pet Microchipped:

• Make sure your profile associated with the Microchip stays current at all times! Even if your pet is scanned and the chip is detected, Having a chip linked to an old address won't get your pet any closer to home.
• Some microchip companies even offer insurance that will cover illness or injury that overtakes your pet while they are missing.
• Make sure your vet does a test scan to confirm that your new microchip is reading accurately once implanted!

If your pet does ever become lost, both of these actions will help improve your chances of being reunited. Having a current picture of your pet is also a great precaution to take. The old-fashioned lost pet flyer certainly can't hurt!

If you have questions about microchipping, please speak with your vet for the most complete, current information. As the spring weather rolls in, enjoy your extra time outdoors and keep a close eye on your animal. Hopefully, you'll never need those tags or microchip to do anything but give you peace of mind just in case.