Your dog (or cat) may have a wide repertoire of tricks, but no matter how smart you think she is, she will never be able to tell a stranger your address and phone number! Ensuring our companion animals have traceable pet identification (I.D.) is one way that we can guarantee that they can "speak" for themselves should they become lost.
However, the most important thing to remember about any kind of pet I.D. is that it is completely useless if you fail to update your personal information when you move or change phone numbers.
Whenever you change any of your contact information, be sure to alert all organizations and agencies with your new details. Ensure your dog or cat has a "ticket home" by registering with PetLynx, too! Even in the absence of any form of traceable identification. the PetLynx Automatch system can help you recover your lost pet based on a physical description alone!
CITY LICENSES AND OTHER TAGS
Even if your cat or dog is already tattooed and/or micro-chipped, a City license tag is an excellent form of traceable identification.
• A collar with tags is an instant alert that an animal is owned and is not a stray.
• It provides instant contact information if a lost pet requires emergency medical care.
• Unfortunately, tags may be lost if an animal loses its collar.
TATTOOS
There are two types of tattoos for companion animals – breeder tattoos and community-specific pet identification tattoos. Each serves an entirely different purpose.
Purebred dogs registered with the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) may have a registration tattoo on their belly or in an ear. This tattoo is applied when the puppy is just a few weeks old and identifies them as being a purebred from a specific breeder and litter. More recently, however, many breeders are opting for microchip I.D., so CKC tattoos are becoming less common. Purebred cats are never tattooed by the breeder.
Pet I.D. tattoos – which can be used for dogs, cats and rabbits – have been established in many communities across Canada. Ideally, the tattoo is put in an animal’s ear when it is spayed or neutered, because it has to be done under general anesthetic. The alphanumeric tattoo assigned to each animal is unique to them, identifying the year the tattoo was applied, the vet clinic that did the tattoo and the specific animal it is registered to.
MICROCHIPS
A microchip is a small coded device, about the size of a grain of rice. It’s inserted using a special syringe under the skin between your pet’s shoulder blades. All animal shelters and veterinary clinics in North America have special scanners that can ‘read’ the encrypted information on the microchip. The owner can be traced using this information.... if the information on file is correct!
Posted by Terri Perrin, Online Communications Editor
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