LOST: TABBY, MALE, NO IDENTIFICATION
TORONTO (May 3, 2011) – Losing your furry friend is not something you want to contemplate, but it happens often enough; the Etobicoke Humane Society (EHS), in support of 2011 The Year of the Cat, is encouraging pet owners to microchip their cats and all their pets. It is the safest bet for ensuring a happy homecoming for a lost companion.
“How often have we seen descriptions of lost pets: tabby, male, orange/black/grey; this could be any one of thousands of cats,” said EHS president, William Blain. “Even if you have an indoor cat, many curious cats are great escape artists and can easily slip through a momentarily opened door without anyone noticing. They seldom have collars and thus no form of identification. Even those cats wearing collars often have ‘breakaway cat collars’ which can easily come off, as they are designed to do. There really is no substitute for a microchip when needing to quickly and reliably identify a lost pet.”
According to Care for Cats, who are spearheading 2011 The Year of the Cat, “less than 25% of Canadian cats have permanent identification, such as tattoos or microchips.” The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies’ 2008 national shelter statistics show that of all the animals that found their way into shelters, only 3.8% of cats were returned to owners. If a cat gets lost or stolen, with no visible ID, microchipping could mean the difference between the cat being reunited with its family or being found and turned into a shelter where it might be euthanized. Microchipping is a quick, safe and permanent method of identifying your pet. Using a needle, the microchip is inserted under the skin in the neck and shoulder blade area. This is most often done by a veterinarian. The microchip is the size and shape of a grain of rice and is read using a scanner that most vets and shelters have on-site.
“Many shelters and humane societies, such as EHS, will ensure animals are microchipped before being adopted, and the microchipping cost is covered under the adoption fee,” said EHS shelter coordinator, Pia Lauretti. “It is something we strongly encourage and believe to be an important part of being a responsible pet guardian.”
It is imperative to keep all information relating to your pet’s microchip number up to date on the website where your personal information, your pet’s information and microchip number are registered. The microchip number is linked to this information and is only as good as the information provided.