Anyone who has ever lost a pet knows that horrible, sinking feeling when you first realize your pet is gone. Here in our Troutdale veterinary hospital, we recommend a dual approach to bolstering your pet’s chances of getting home if he or she ever wanders off: microchipping and a sturdy collar with updated tags. The biggest and most obvious benefit to the microchip is that even if the tags get lost or become illegible from wear, the microchip is still there, holding the key to your pet’s return home.

The Troutdale microchipping service we provide in our veterinary hospital is safe and comes with a host of benefits:

• Microchips are forever— Microchips are all designed to work well past the lifespan of even the healthiest, longest-living pet.

• They stay put—The microchip inserted by our veterinarian remains in the same place where it was injected and cannot get worn out or lost like collars and tags can.

• Microchips are Updatable—If you ever move or go on an extended vacation with your pet, you can contact the pet registry and easily have your contact information changed. It is important not to forget this critical step if you ever move!

• Lost pet alerts—If your pet ever does get lost, you can call the microchip registry immediately and put out a lost pet alert to red flag your pet so that shelters and animal control officials will know that you are aware your pet is lost and need help getting him or her home.

• Microchips are becoming more standardized—When the idea of microchipping first dawned, many different registries, chips and scanners were available and not all of them were able to coordinate with each other. Today, these registries, chips and scanners are being standardized so that any scanner can read any chip to get the critical contact information off of them.

Again, always remember to keep your contact information current with the registry!