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Microchips Not Just For Cats And Dogs

Author: RSPCA
Posted: Wednesday 21st June, 2006. 00:00:00

With the weather warming up, pets are more likely to be outdoors - increasing the risk of them straying. The RSPCA recommends that all cats and dogs are microchipped - but other animals can also be microchipped to help reunite them with their owners should they be stolen, lost or stray.

A recent spate of lost ferrets being rescued has prompted the Society to urge ferret owners to get their animals microchipped.

"I've been with the RSPCA 40 years and in all that time I've picked up so many lost ferrets and only managed to reunite two with their owners," said RSPCA animal collection officer, Peter Scott. "People take them out at this time of year, they get lost then they don't report them missing."

Rabbits can also be microchipped to increase the likelihood of them being reunited with their owners should they burrow out of or escape from the garden.

Painless peace of mind - Microchipping is as simple as an injection. A tiny microchip - the size of a grain of rice - is painlessly inserted under the animal's skin. Once in, the microchip cannot move or be seen, but can be read by a scanner. If a lost or stolen animal is found, the code will be revealed by passing a scanner over the microchip. Then it's just a matter of matching the code with the PetLog database.

And it's not just furry animals which can benefit from this form of permanent identification. The RSPCA recently picked up a tortoise, which had been missing for eight months. Horace the tortoise was scanned and found to have a microchip in his leg - he was quickly reunited with his amazed owner. If he had not been microchipped it would have been extremely unlikely that owner and pet would ever have met again. Horace had wandered two miles from his home in Cardiff!

June is National Microchipping month - with many vets, councils and animal charities microchipping pets at discounted rates.

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