Microchip ID implant can help track lost pets
Thousands of pet owners find comfort in identifying their animals with a collar and tag, a microchip ID or both. The tiny chip is a powerful tool to quickly reunite frantic people with their lost pets. The rice-sized semiconductor, encased in medical-grade glass, is implanted painlessly under the skin between the animal's shoulders in just a few seconds. The collar and tag can be lost, but the microchip ID lasts a lifetime.
Hawaiian Humane Society
So how does it work? Each microchip has a unique number that is revealed using a hand-held scanning device. The code is then matched with the database of pet owners' names, addresses and telephone numbers, which is kept at the Hawaiian Humane Society on O'ahu. Changes of address or phone numbers are made with a quick call to the Humane Society.
Like every dog adopted from the Humane Society, Slick already had a microchip ID when his owner came to pick him up. The chip contains a code that can be matched with a database of pet owners.
More pet owners are getting the implants for their pets as word spreads about how the device has reunited owners with their lost pets. The O'ahu database includes information on more than 78,500 dogs, cats, birds, horses and other animals. Hawaiian Humane Society's investigators are equipped with scanners in their trucks for quick identification of stray pets. Veterinarians around the island also have scanners.
Tale of two lost pets
Mary and Ray's household includes a brood of cats they rescued from a dumpster on Christmas Eve four years ago. The brood has since been sterilized and microchip IDs implanted. Three years ago Mary and Ray went on vacation and asked family members to look after the cats. When they returned, the orange male cat called C.B. (for Cry Baby) was missing. They filed a lost animal report with the Humane Society, searched their neighborhood and visited the Humane Society for weeks.
On Sept. 26, they received a call from the Humane Society that C.B. had been found — three years after he was first reported missing. A trap near the airport had yielded the lost pet. Mary and Ray immediately identified the crying cat at the Humane Society as C.B. — a little disheveled but healthy.
Lady is a black, chow Labrador mix who was born in Georgia, raised in New York, traveled by car to California, flew to Honolulu and spent four months in quarantine. Lady was implanted with a microchip before beginning her quarantine.
Lady has since learned to take off her collar, jump the fence and run about her new neighborhood — often getting lost. So far, Susan, Lady's owner, has received a call from a veterinarian, who identified Lady after scanning her ID, and once by the Humane Society.
This month being Love-A-Dog Month, dogs can get a microchip implanted for $5 from 16 O'ahu veterinary clinics. Call for an appointment. The procedure will also be available for $5 at the Hawaiian Humane Society on Saturday morning, from 8:30-noon, no appointment necessary.
Participating veterinarians:
• 'Aina Haina Pet Hospital, 373-2111
• Animal Clinic Inc., 734-0255
• Animal Clinic Mililani, 623-2814
• East Honolulu Pet Hospital, 396-3333
• Family Veterinary Clinic, 484-9070
• Feather & Fur Clinic, 254-1548
• Hawai'i Kai Veterinary Clinic, 395-2302
• Kailua Animal Clinic, 263-8863
• Kalihi Pet Clinic, 841-6313
• Kokua Pet Clinic, 843-8382
• Makai Animal Clinic, 262-9621
• Newtown Veterinary Clinic, 488-3667
• The Pet Doctor, 733-8828
• Wahiawa Animal Hospital, 621-7000
• Wai'anae Veterinary Clinic, 696-4161
• Waipahu-Leeward Veterinary Clinic, 671-4095
