80% of the animals found after hurricane Katrina did NOT have any form of identification! The statistics are similar when polls are taken from Shelters and Pounds. However, when an animal DOES have identification, the odds of reuniting them with their owner goes up dramatically! If you love your dog and would be heart broken if he or she was stolen or got loose and lost, PLEASE be sure your dog always has some means of identification.
Micro chipping is a great way to permanently identify your dog. There are several brands of microchip available. Some of the companies have deliberately made their chips unreadable by other companies' scanners. They did this in an effort to "corner the market" and make it so that everyone would have to use their brand of chip. Other companies have made their chips so that they could be readable by any machine, and have scanners which will identify the existence of another brand of chip in the dog's body. The AVID micro chip is one of these companies, and this is the one I have in all my dogs. This is not a "paid professional endorsement"--it is just my personal endorsement, based on the fact that it seems that this company is more concerned with reuniting people with their lost pets than it is with "cornering the market."
The drawback with micro chipping is that the microchip is invisible. This is why you should also have your dog wear a tag on his collar, mentioning that he has been micro chipped, and containing backup identification information. Another aspect is the cost. Micro chipping can be done for as cheaply as $5. per dog at a clinic, to $35. per dog at your veterinarian's office. I was lucky enough to have my dogs done at a chipping clinic as a sled dog racer, and saved $300. (on ten dogs). The registration of the chip is usually included in the fee, however, some of the companies have an annual fee that provides additional services. If you move, you must send your change of address information to the registering company. The final drawback is that, unfortunately, not all humane societies and shelters have one of the scanners to identify the chips (though most do now.) And, the fact that most of these chip manufacturers are not working together on this, and require their own separate reader, makes it necessary to keep several brands on hand. The readers are usually donated FREE OF CHARGE to shelters. Breeders and kennel owners with large numbers of dogs can buy them at a low cost.
The advantages of the microchip are that it is a permanent identification system. It can't fade out, like a tattoo, or fall off, like an I.D. tag. It doesn't have a power source which will wear out. The chip is detected by passing the scanner over the dog's body (usually the neck area.) If a chip is identified, the number will show on the scanner. This registration number is on file with the company, with all of the important identification information about your dog. The chips are easy to implant. They are about the size of a grain of rice, and they go under the skin with a large hypodermic needle. The needle is made so that it slices the skin and injects the chip, rather than boring a hole in the skin surface. A slit is made by the needle, which flaps back down after the procedure, and heals very quickly. The needle is so sharp, the dogs barely feel it. However, there is also a “gun” type injector that is even less painful for the dog because it not only has the advantages of the needle, but it also happens so fast. Regardless of the method used, be sure your dog is chipped by someone that has experience with this so undue pain is not caused (through hesitation or hitting a nerve) and so the chip is properly placed. You could also have the microchip put in when the dog is put under for another procedure such as a spay or neuter surgery.
Another means of identifying your dog is with a tattoo. Tattoos can be applied by most veterinarians. If you do it when your dog is in for another elective surgery, like spaying or neutering, it will only cost about $10 or $15. If you make a special appointment for your vet to tattoo your dog, it will be more like upwards of $35 because the vet will have to anesthetize the dog. Sometimes you can find a tattoo clinic, or an individual who performs the tattooing service. The procedure tingles or stings a little, but most dogs will hold still and lie quietly enough for the tattoo person to apply the number to the dog's inner thigh without having to sedate the dog. A tattoo clinic or individual will tattoo your dog for more like $10 or $15. In some areas of the country dogs are stolen to be sold to research centers. Research laboratories should not accept any dogs that have tattoos. For this reason, it is best to have the tattoo put on an area that is not easily removable by an individual who has no regard for the animal's life (like the dog’s ear.)
Then, you'll need to register your tattoo number with an organization, like National Dog Registry or Tattoo-A-Pet. They keep all of the information about you and your dog on file, and when someone calls in the tattoo number, you can be located almost immediately. The one-time registration is good forever for that tattoo number. If you put that number on all of your dogs, you would only need to register once. I prefer to register each of my dogs with a separate number. That way, if they are ever re-homed for some reason, the tattoo number can follow them and be updated with the new information. Each registration is then good for the lifetime of the dog. The tattoo is meaningless without registration, and the registration is cheap insurance for around $35.
If your dog has enough hair at the tattoo site to cover the tattoo, you’ll need to keep that area trimmed so the tattoo is visible. It’s easiest to do this each time you trim the dog’s nails or have the dog groomed.
Of course, your dog should always wear an identification tag, no matter what other forms of identification are applied or inserted (my dogs are chipped, tattooed, and wear tags.) There are various kinds of dog tags, from the cheap (8 cents), temporary, write-on tags that we provide to the campers while their dogs are here on vacation, to the more expensive, unbreakable Pet Scope tags, that hold a bunch of information on a tiny chip which can be viewed by looking through the included magnifying lens.
Do your research and decide for yourself which option is best for you and your dog(s).
