Where's Fido?

Pet Identification

Every pet should have some sort of identification.   After all, pet identification is in place not for everyday life, but for those unforeseen events that result in lost pets.  For the time the wind blows the fence down and the dog runs scared from the yard, or a guest leaves the front door open long enough for the wouldn’t-survive-more-than-30-seconds-in-the-wild indoor only Persian to sneak out.  Not to mention the natural disasters like floods and forest fires that send communities into chaos and force pet owners to abandon their pets in their neighborhoods or at temporary shelters as they run for their lives.   As a former animal shelter employee and “lifer” Animal Health Technician, I have re-united many a lost pet thanks to good identification.

In this blog post I will summarize the ways in which you can identify your pet to better help you decide which one will work best for you.

Pet Tags

Pet tags are a cheap, simple, and highly effective way to identify your pet.  They can be purchased at many pet stores and engraving facilities, often for around $10-$20.  They are very visible and if you put your address and phone number on the tag, whoever picks up your lost pet can very simply return it to you, often bypassing the animal shelter.  You can also have extra information engraved on the tag if your pet has a critical medical condition like “Addisons: needs daily medication” or “diabetic”.  That way if your pet is found ill, the finder will know to seek veterinary attention.

An alternative to the tag is to simply write your phone number on your pet’s collar in permanent marker.  I’ve seen this on some of my patients and I think it brilliant!  And it’s free!

The down side of pet ID Tags is that they require that your pet be wearing his/her collar.  This can be difficult with cats.  And it seems that many dogs go missing right after a bath, or the same day that the collar went in the laundry.

Tattoos

ID Tattoos are different than a breeder tattoo.  Breeders will often tattoo the belly (sometimes the ear) of each puppy in the litter to identify them and help with registration.  These tattoos often fade and become distorted as the puppy grows and are difficult to trace when a pet is lost.

 ID Tattoos are a series of letter and numbers placed in the right ear in either green or black ink.  They cost about $35.  ID tattoos are placed by veterinary clinics usually at the time of spay or neuter.  Tattoos require that a pet be under anaesthetic.  The CVBC (the veterinary governing body) has a system of letters and numbers assigned to veterinary clinics so an animal will always be traced back to the clinic that did the tattoo.  The clinic keeps records of these tattoos and can then trace the tattoo back to the owner of the pet.  This is why it is so important to keep your address and phone number current with the vet clinic that tattooed your pets. 

The system of numbers and letters used is unique to each province.  There is no nation-wide tattoo system.  If you move to another province or country with a tattooed pet, you may want to consider getting another form of identification.

Microchips

A microchip is a very small device (about the size of a grain of rice) that can be injected under the skin with a large bore needle.  It does not require anaesthetic and can be done right in the exam room.  Contrary to common belief, the microchip does not have any source of power and does not emit any radiation or electrical signal.  After placement, the microchip is read with a battery powered scanner that is waved over the pet, much the same way that the bar code on our groceries is read at the checkout.

The readout on the scanner is a series of numbers and letters.  Animal hospital and shelter staff have access to information that helps them determine which company the chip belongs to.  They can then contact that company with the microchip number and get the owners contact information. 

The advantage of this system is that you can store unlimited amounts information about your pet in the microchip company’s system.  Pet insurance info, vaccine info, medical info, all available to the shelter or vet clinic even if you aren’t!  And most companies make updating your information very easy via a 1-800 number or website.  At Sechelt Animal Hospital we use chips from M4SID which allows you to update and change information as much as you want for no additional fees.  The cost of the chip is roughly $40 and that includes a lifetime registration.  Beware of companies that require a yearly fee to maintain registration or ones that charge you to change your information.

The only downside of microchips is that they are not easily visible to the finder of the pet and that the pet must be taken to an animal hospital or shelter to have the chip read.   If your pet is microchipped you may want to add another piece of ID like a collar tag.