Losing your pet can be a traumatic and even tragic event. Conscientious pet guardians protect their pets with collars and ID tags. Unfortunately, collars and ID tags are not foolproof and dogs and cats can still get lost. Collars can break or fall-off, leaving your beloved pet among the countless, unidentified lost strays at animal shelters.

What are microchips?

Microchips are implantable computer chips that encode a unique identification number to help reunite you with your lost pet. They are no bigger than a grain of rice and the are placed under your pet's skin with a needle and syringe, not much differently than a routine vaccination. Unlike collars and ID tags, they can never break or fall off. They work by receiving a radio signal from a scanner and transmitting the encoded chip identification number back to the scanner. With the chip identification number in hand, the vital contact information is only a phone call away. 

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Each chip carries a unique number that is linked in an online database to the name and contact information of the pet's owner. 

A needle is used to inject the chip between a dog or cat's shoulder blades. The procedure does not require anesthesia. 

The pet and its owner are enrolled in a database with the corresponding chip number. Owners MUST register their pet with the microchip company and keep their contact information up to date for the system to work properly.

The chip has no battery. It is energized by radio waves of hand held scanners used by animal shelters and veterinarians. 

KEY PARTS
1. Microchip holds the unique ID number.
2. Tuning capacitor receives power from an external scanner and sends it to the microchip.
3. Copper antenna coil then transmits microchip's information to scanner. 
4. Biocompatible glass capsule- nontoxic and designed to prevent allergic reactions- surrounds components. 

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Chip Statistics

• ​One in three pets will go missing in their lifetime; 90 percent never return home.**
• Six to eight million pets end up in shelters each year, many more are lost with no identification.
  
• Microchip recovery services are available 24/7, 365 days a year.

**Cats need microchips, too! Especially cats who don't wear a collar. A chipped cat is 20 times more likely to find his home again if he gets lost!

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When you have your animal microchipped, it is exceedingly important to register your information with the microchip company and keep that information updated. When you move, updating your information with the microchip company should be on your moving checklist. The microchip is not very effective if the information is incorrect. No matter how experienced a pet owner you are, there is always the risk of a beloved pet to go missing. 

REGISTERED MICROCHIPS GIVE LOST PETS THE BEST CHANCE OF RETURNING HOME.

• The American Human Association estimates over 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S every year.
• One in three pets will become lost at some point during their life.

​A study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, including 53 animal shelters across the U.S, confirmed the high rate of return of microchipped dogs and cats to their families, and the importance of microchip registration. 
From that study:

• Only about 22 percent of lost dogs that entered the animal shelters were reunited with their families. However, the return-to-owner rate for microchipped dogs was over 52 percent (a 238 percent increase).
• Less than 2 percent of lost cats that entered the animal shelters were reunited with their families. The return-to-owner rate for microchipped cats was dramatically higher at over 38 percent (an increase of over 2000 percent).
• Only 58 percent of microchipped animals' microchips had been registered in a database with their owner's contact information.