If you have gotten a pet from an animal shelter within the past few years, then you know about microchipping. It's a science that was advertised to help you be reunited with your dog should he/she get lost. It's a great idea but according to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, there are some things to be aware of:
“A limitation of the microchip registry system is than many pet owners do not register microchips in their names according to ‘Characterization of animals with microchips entering animal shelters’ In that study, shelters contacted microchip registries regarding 1,943 animals but found registrations for only 58.1%. The registries were unable to find any information on the owner or on the person who implanted the microchip for 9.8 percent of the animals. Among other recommendations, the study’s authors suggested that veterinarians and shelter personnel should not only register pet microchips at the time of implantation, but also remind the pets’ owners to update information in the registry."
A lot of pet owners don't update information in the registry and without doing that, you won't match up to your dog if he gets lost. Be sure if you move or change any of your pertinent information you update the registry. When you first get your dog from a shelter, you should get documentation that tells you how to register. Keep this handy for the life of your pet. I have a trusty "Janey" folder in my file cabinet that all paperwork on her goes into. It's convenient and it's a one-stop place to retrieve anything I might need for her.
Make sure your information for your pet's microchip is current. If not, contact the location where you first had the chip implanted and ask for the contact information you need to update it. That way if your dog does get lost, you'll be sure to have a way to be reunited happily!
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