Microchipping

Losing a pet can be heartbreaking, and an unsuccessful search even more so. Over the past few decades, different methods of keeping track of our furry friends have been developed. City license tags for local identification, and some dogs are tattooed for nationwide identifying.

While very handy, by no means are these options permanent. Collars and tags come off, and tattoos can be altered with ink, or eradicated completely with deep scarring or even , in the case of ear tattoos, cut off totally. That's a scary thought.

Affectionately referred to as "immunizing against homelessness", the fairly new microchipping procedure is no more painful than a vaccination, and carried out the same way.

A tiny capsule, about the size of a grain of rice, is injected under the flap of skin on the back of the dog's neck. Veterinarians and shelters are provided with a scanner that reads the digital number on the chip inside the capsule. If your pet is picked up as a stray and he is microchipped, a quick phone call to the microchip company will have your information, and your pet will soon be home safe.

A microchip is completely permanent, it can not be cut off or altered. If your pet is stolen, or sold to a research facility he will be returned. Research facilities will NOT take any dog or animal that has either a tattoo or a microchip implanted.

Although more and more pet owners are microchipping their pets, there are still a lot of shelters that do not have scanners, and still pets that are picked up by good samaritans rather than somebody with scanner access. It is still no guarantee that your pet will not be lost, or if she is, that you'll get her back, but it does reduce the risks.