Tattooing and Microchipping Your Dog

Hopefully you will never lose your dog, 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.

All too often, collars or tags can be lost or unworn when a pet becomes lost. A tattoo or microchip provides safe and effective permanent identification for your dog every day of his or her life.

Tattoos are placed on the inner thigh using a personal identification number registered to you and that pet. Most dogs tolerate the process well. All that is required is a call to Judy Kerton at our main telephone number (610-828-3054) for an appointment. The cost is $15.00 for the tattoo and a separate $15.00 to register your number with ID Pet. Tattoos can also be done when your dog is neutered (spayed or castrated) on days Mrs. Kerton is at Hickory Veterinary Hospital.

The process of microchipping your dog is relatively pain free (a simple injection) and can be done at any 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 hr, 365 days a year 1-800 telephone number to reunite microchipped animals with their owners. The AKC-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 microchip to ensure it remains in the area injected for ease of identification by SPCA readers.

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

Please let us know if you are interested in either of these services.

Hickory Veterinary Hospital © 2005