Nov 19, 2009 5:08 pm US/Pacific
Your Pet's Microchip May Need Maintenance
Shelters Say Information May be Out-of-date
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
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A veterinarian gives a checkup to a family pet.
CBS
Animal Shelters say they are having a hard time identifying some microchipped pets because owner-guardians are failing to follow through when they chip their pets.
Mocha, a one-year-old beagle, is friendly and cuddly. But he's hard to get to know. When workers at San Francisco's Animal Care & Control scanned the lost dog they discovered he had two microchips, but neither could provide enough information to link the dog to its owner.
Veterinarian Bing Dilts of the S.F.A.C.C. said that's not unusual. Dr. Dilts said a fair number of well meaning pet owners who get their pets chipped fail to follow through. She said owners need to complete the process and register the chip number with the manufacturer, or a national database, like
Petlink.net.
Dr. Dilts said pet owners also have to make sure to update their information if they move or get a new phone number.
"A lot of time we call a phone number up, they've been disconnected. We've had letters bounce back to us, no forwarding address," Dilts said.
Some chip companies charge a fee to make changes, some don't. Petlink.net is a free service.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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