Pet Health Information

MICROCHIP IDENTIFICATION FOR CATS

Hopefully you will never lose your cat, but it does happen. Just visit your local SPCA. Every pet should have identification on at all times in the form of a collar with ID tag, tattoo, or a microchip implanted under the skin.

For cats the best identification is a safety collar and tag and a microchip ID. Since collars can often be lost during normal feline activities, the microchip provides safe and permanent identification for your cat should s/he ever become lost and collar-less. Tattoos are great for dogs, but they do not show up well on cats due to their skin and thick coat.

The process of microchipping your cat is relatively pain free (a simple injection) and only requires an office visit. Some pets may require a local anesthetic at the injection site. The chip is the size of a grain of rice and lasts for the life of the pet. The American Kennel Club Companion Animal Recovery (AKC-CAR) has a 24-hour, 365 days a year 1 - 800 phone number to reunite microchipped animals with their owners. The CAR registers chips from dogs and cats, both mixed and purebred. The local SPCA's are being given universal microchip readers to identify pets, which have been chipped by different companies.

We use the Home Again system which provides an antimigration capsule around the chip to ensure it remains in the area injected for ease of identification by SPCA readers.

The cost is $40.00 for the chipping, then you send in a registration fee of $12.50 to the AKC-CAR.

Please let us know if you are interested in this service.

Hickory Veterinary Hospital © 2005