Pet Identification
Adopting a new dog or cat is an exciting day for any family or
individual. Along with the excitement comes the responsibility of caring for your new companion for the duration of his or her life. In addition to providing all of the basic supplies that your companion animal needs you can help keep your pet safe by having your cat or dog wear and identification tag at all times. While The Anti-Cruelty Society loves our alumni, we don't want to see them again unless it's on a holiday card or in a training class...not walking through the front door as a lost pet!
- Identification tags vastly increase the numbers of animals that are returned to owners.
- Since the information on an ID tag is immediately readable, it prevents the animal and the finder from ever having to go to a shelter or veterinarian's office since there is no need to scan for a chip. Therefore, the animal is returned home more quickly. As an ASPCA staff noted, "I know many of you have heard of those great stories where a pet is reunited with their pet parent after months and months because of a microchip. Well - I much prefer the stories where the pet was reunited within minutes or hours because a neighbor or Good Samaritan found the pet in the neighborhood."
- Some members of the general public may not even know that microchips exist so if the animal they find does not have tags they may take that animal to the shelter, release the animal back where it was found, or even keep them as a pet. Identification tags can get an animal safely home FASTER.
- Many adopters do not follow through with microchip registration; simply having a microchip is not sufficient identification - you must keep the information current. There may be a fee involved with this critical step.
- Caring for lost pets in a shelter is expensive. If the finder can get the animal home without involving the shelter, the shelter can use its resources on homeless animals. And if the finder can get the pet home faster, the owner is spared the agony of looking for their lost pet.
- Good Samaritans who see that an animal has tags know there is likely an owner. This greatly increases both their comfort with approaching the animal and their desire to do so since they know it is probably a lost pet opposed to a stray or feral animal.
Many people think that cats will not tolerate a collar. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association found that most cats will tolerate wearing collars. Only 3.3% of cats in the study had their collars get stuck on something - and they concluded that the benefits of collars well outweighed any potential negatives.
People also mistakenly believe that an indoor only cat does not need a collar and tag but accidents do happen - a workman forgets to close the door or a cat runs out the door during deliveries. If a cat is wearing a collar and identification, the chances of getting your loved pet back are greatly increased.
Identification tags are important but collars and tags may come off so implanting a microchip is critical for permanent, tamper-proof, back-up identification. It is crucial that both tags and microchip data are current!
All pets adopted from The Anti-Cruelty Society go home with a collar, identification tags, and a microchip.
