The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Animal Hospital Association, along with local veterinary hospitals such as the Ann Arbor Animal Hospital, have teamed up to remind pet owners of the importance of microchipping their pet and making sure the registered information is up to date. To that end, August 15th has been dubbed “Check the Chip Day”.

Identifying your pet with a microchip is the best way to ensure its safe return to you, should it get lost or stolen. Year after year, pets who have been microchipped are reunited with their owners. Such was the story of Tom, a cat who had been missing for 4 1/2 months before being reunited with his owner. Sadly there are also stories each year of pets who are found, who have a microchip but the owner’s information is no longer current, or the chip was never registered.

Pets and their owners can benefit from the advice of Check the Chip Day: If your pet doesn’t already have a microchip, make an appointment at your veterinary hospital to have your pet microchipped.

If you pet has a microchip, take a few minutes today to check the manufacturer’s database to make sure that your registration information is up to date.

In addition to these objectives, the Check the Chip Day website offers additional information including videos and podcasts. There is also a link to the AAHA Universal Microchip Lookup site where you can enter your pet’s microchip number to check the registration information. Ten of the 12 commonly-used microchip manufacturers are included in this database, so it makes verifying the information easy for most pet owners.

Pets add so much joy to our lives.

Knowing that your pet is microchipped and your information in the database is correct is peace of mind, because if your pet is ever lost or stolen it has a very good chance of being returned home.

Click here to see a demonstration of a microchipping procedure.

David Caddell is the hospital director of the Ann Arbor Animal Hospital, a locally owned and operated Companion Animal Hospital. David can be reached at 734-662-4474 or dcaddell@AnnArborAnimalHospital.com.