See attachment at the bottom of this page for why I.D. is so very important . . .
Explanation of a Microchip . . .
- For American Animal Hospital Association's Microchip Myths and Facts, Click Here.
- For Microchip Information supplied by the City of Sacramento, Click Here.
- To read the AVMA's FAQs re Microchipping Animals, Click Here.
- Please see important comparisons of different types of microchips and I.D. tags in the last two sections of this page.
Low-Cost Vaccination and Microchip Clinics in the Sacramento Area . . .
- SAAC Lists Multiple Resources for Sacramento Area Low Cost Vaccinations and Microchips.
- VIP Petcare Services has weekly Low-Cost Vaccination Clinics throughout Sacramento and surrounding areas. They offer heartworm testing as well FIV/FELV testing (cats) and sell heartworm preventatives, flea/tick preventatives and dewormers at reasonable prices.
- Sacramento County Animal Care & Regulation has $20 Microchipping and $5 Rabies Clinics the first Wednesday of each month from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The clinics are cash only and located at the Sacramento County Shelter, 4290 Bradshaw Road, Sacramento, CA 95827 [mapIt]
- Sacramento County Animal Care & Regulation has $20 Microchipping and $5 Rabies Clinics the fourth Wednesday of each month from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The clinics are cash only and located at the Folsom Zoo in the Log Cabin, Folsom City Park at Natoma and Stafford Streets - 403 Stafford Street, Folsom, CA 95630.
- City of Sacramento Animal Care Services has Monthly Rabies Clinics offered by the Sacramento Valley Medical Association. The clinics are the first Wednesday of every month from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the shelter, 2127 Front Street, Sacramento. City animal licenses are available as well as $20 microchip identification.
- City of Sacramento Animal Care Services also offers $20 microchipping of your dog or cat at the City Shelter, 2127 Front Street, Sacramento, during regular Shelter Hours.
- Placer SPCA in Roseville offers $20 microchips and $5 rabies vaccines. Click here for more information.
Where to Buy I.D. Tags and Embroidered I.D. Collars:
- PetCo, PetsMart and Pet Club all have I.D. tag machines where you can make engraved tags on the spot for about $7.00, or you can order an engraved I.D. tag on line for a lower price. Three web sites that sell engraved I.D. tags are Chili Dog Tags and Pet ID Tags and Go Tags.
- Individuals and Rescue Groups can order instant ID Jiffy Tags for 40 cents a tag from B-Elegant's Web Page or by calling (800)-9BELEGANT.
- There are also companies, such as Go Tags and DogIDCollar, which sell dog collars with phone numbers embroidered right on the collar itself. If you are considering this kind of collar as a form of I.D. for your dog and your dog has a lot of fur, you might want to consider whether your pet's fur would cover up the phone number.
- We've noticed that the traditional buckle fasteners on collars are much less likely to break or come off than the plastic quick-release collars.
- Another form of I.D. tag is your dog's license. When you get your dog licensed (which is generally around $15 for sterilized animal), a sturdy licensing tag automatically comes with it. Click here for more on Animal Licensing.
Important Information About Microchips and Traditional I.D. Tags . . .
Each Form of I.D. Has Its Own Advantages:
- Microchips are considered by both the AVMA and AAHA to be an extremely safe and effective way to permanently identify your companion animal.
- Microchips can be life-saving should your dog or cat get lost and end up at an animal shelter.
- All animal shelters and most veterinary clinics have microchip scanners that are used to read the microchip information.
- Another positive of microchips is they can't come off or be taken off like collars and tags.
- One more benefit to having your dog or cat microchipped is that the microchip can be used to prove who the rightful owner is should there ever be an ownership dispute.
- Visible I.D. tags in addition to microchipping are also very important.
- One of the positives of wearing an I.D. tag is that it often times will result in getting an animal back to the owner when the animal is still close to home and before he/she ever ends up at a shelter.
- Also, many of the same people who will stop to help a lost pet wearing an I.D. tag will not do so if that same pet is not wearing readily visible identification because the lack of an I.D. tag makes it clear to the person that they will not be able to immediately call the owner in order to get the lost animal home.
- Another benefit to your animal having a microchip and/or visible identification tag is that by law animal shelters are required to keep animals which enter the shelter with identification longer than they would otherwise be required to keep them.
What You Should Know About The Different Types of Microchips:
The following information about microchips can get a little confusing, but is important information for dog and cat owners to know:
Although the ISO (134.2 kHz frequency) microchip has now been approved and recommended as the global standard for microchipping, I think it is important to note that many U.S. veterinarians (and possibly some shelters) have not yet been equipped with scanners capable of reading the ISO (134.2 kHz) microchip. For years previously, the vast majority of microchips administered in the United States (predominantly AVID and HomeAgain brands) used 125 kHz frequency microchips, and as such the vast majority of shelters and veterinarians have scanners which are capable of reading those chips.
I personally inquired of one of the manufacturers of the ISO (134.2 kHz) microchip as to whether or not they would be providing veterinarians who already have scanners that can read 125 kHz microchips with upgraded scanners capable of also reading this ISO (134.2 kHz) microchip that is only recently on the U.S. market. The response by the manufacturer was that they will provide any shelter with a scanner capable of reading their ISO microchips but that the vets are responsible for paying to upgrade their existing scanners or purchasing a new scanner themselves . . . unless, of course, a vet is to be willing to switch to selling this manufacturer's ISO (134.2 kHz) microchip. What is also very disconcerting to me is that my vets hadn't even been made aware that there was a microchip of a different frequency being sold until they found out quite by accident one day when an owner asked them to scan a dog with a known microchip and their scanner didn't read the microchip because it was an ISO chip. So, even if a vet is willing to pay around $300 to purchase a new scanner which is capable of also reading the more recent ISO chips, vets have to first be made aware of the need for same.
It is clearly up to the discretion of the animal's owner which type/brand of microchip they choose to have implanted; however, I personally am much more concerned with a lost animal's microchip being able to be detected and read accurately in the United States than I am concerned with it being able to be read in a foreign country. Therefore, I personally make the choice to continue to use the non-ISO chips manufactured by such companies as Avid, HomeAgain, 24-Pet Watch and AKC CAR.
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If_I_Had_ID_I'd_Be_Home.doc - on Jun 28, 2009 2:34 PM by Sacramento Canine Placement Assistance (version 1)
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