Veterinary Services
Pet Microchipping in Grafton, WI
Protect your pet with microchipping! Quick, painless, and permanent ID for lost pets. Serving Grafton, WI, and surrounding areas.
Pet Microchipping
Even the most responsible pet owner could leave the garage door open or forget to close the gate, resulting in a lost pet. Microchipping your pet could be the difference between ensuring that your pet is returned to you, or hoping that someone will find them and call the number on their collar or happen upon a Missing poster. While it is estimated that nearly 3 million pets in shelters are euthanized annually, some of those animals are pets whose owners were unable to find them. AVID, one of the major microchip manufacturers, states that approximately 1,400 pets with microchips are reunified with their owners per year, saving them from euthanasia.
Pet microchip technology continues to evolve. Currently, microchip implants are designed to last the extent of your pet’s life and are also composed of biocompatible elements that can coexist with your pet’s body tissues without causing harm. These days, microchips can be placed in a variety of pets, including reptiles, dogs, cats, horses, ferrets, and birds. You do not need to worry about someone stealing your information from the microchip or reprogramming it – only a veterinarian, animal shelter, or animal control center can see or scan the microchip.
Reasons for microchipping a pet:
- It can help return a lost animal to their proper owner.
- Microchips help animal shelters avoid the unnecessary expense of boarding an animal that belongs to a loving home.
- Microchips provide a permanent method of identifying your pet. If your pet is lost or stolen and its collar is removed, a vet or shelter can still return your pet to their home.
- Some countries require a microchip that must also be cross-referenced with an up-to-date vaccination record before an animal is allowed to enter the country.
- They can help distinguish the legal owner of a pet when the ownership of the animal is in dispute.
What does microchipping involve?
Implanting the microchip is a quick and easy process that is relatively painless for your pet. Our veterinarians at our pet clinic prefer to implant the chip during a vaccination series because the sensation is very similar to getting a shot. The microchip is about the size of a single granule of long-grained rice and is injected under your pet’s skin with a needle and syringe. The standard injection site is between the shoulder blades, and there is no anesthetic needed. While the chip can migrate from the initial injection site, trained technicians know to scan a pet’s entire body before determining whether your pet does or does not have microchip identification.
How are pets found?
More often than not, pets are recovered at animal shelters. Whether your pet was brought into a veterinarian’s office, an animal shelter, or was recovered by animal control, all agencies are trained to scan all pets upon receiving them. After scanning the implant site with a radio frequency identification (RFID) scanner, the technician will be able to see a unique identification number that coordinates with your contact information, your pet’s name, your pet’s veterinarian, and the animal shelter they were adopted from if any. You will then be contacted and informed of where you can pick up your pet.
If you have further questions about pet microchips or would like to schedule an appointment for microchipping, contact our animal clinic at your convenience. Our veterinarians and staff would be happy to speak with you.
We are proud to provide microchipping services to the pets of Grafton, Wisconsin, and the surrounding communities of Saukville, Port Washington, Cedarburg, Thiensville, and beyond!