Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Chipped and Loved

I've mentioned a time or two that I sometimes freak out over certain things.  Anesthesia is one.  When Ray was neutered and again when he had him growth removed, I freaked a little bit over the ghastly thought of what if?  What if the rock he ate this morning causes adverse affects?  What if he doesn't come out of the anesthesia?  What if what if what if!!   Luckily this often works itself out and I can contiue my day in a fairly productive manner. 

Along those lines, though, I panicked for nearly the entire time that Ray-Ray was unprotected.  Not by vaccines, but by a microchip.  Ray came home with me when he was only seven weeks old because by then his litter was weaned and Sparkles was more interested in becoming someone's forever baby than in dealing with her own.  I think that bringing him home that early has left him with some deficient social skills that even his puppy classes couldn't give him but as he grows I still try to expose him to as much as I feel we can successfully handle.  There were times, though, that I found myself wishing I could just leave this little monster in the proverbial pumpkin patch.  This jumping, nipping, leash wrestling little puppy was overwhelming at times but by the same token was the light of my life. 

Anyhow, on our first visit to the vet, I had asked to have him microchipped but was told they prefer to wait until the neuter and do it while he is anesthetized so for the next couple of months I felt like he was unprotected and I was a neurotic mess each time we set foot outside.  The problem now that he is chipped, is that I want to be able to communicate this fact very easily and effectively.  The first question I would ask about a lost or found animal is whether or not it is chipped but I wonder if that is the first thing others would think?  Would most people check?  Would they know how to or where to?  I really wanted to get a tag that would explain that fact.  I liked a tag suggestion I saw ...ummm....was it at Love and a Six Foot Leash? ...about a reward?  I'm not sure but naturally the talk about local shelters being filled with Pit Bull type dogs are abundant.  Unfortunately, around here the shelters are not full of Pit Bull types, if you catch my meaning.  That scares me even more.  I thought a nice tag saying something like "Ray-chipped and loved" might work, but of course I would need my name and number on it.  Maybe my husband's name and number as an alternate.  Ray's name, of course, should go on there so at this point we have a book hanging from his neck.  And we're talking about a dog who is easily stimulated.  By that I mean he doesn't do well with dangly, jingly tags.  I even bought one of those fancy tag clips from Sirius Republic.  He ate it while it was on his collar!  At least that is what I think happened because I found his bent tag on the floor, the connecting ring opened and nothing else.

So what do you do to keep your pooches safe and easily returned if that unspeakable event happened to separate him/her from you?

6 comments:

  1. The home again brand chip actually comes with a tag to wear on the collar. There are some people out there who wouldn't think to take a found animal somewhere to get it scanned for a chip. Also, if you ever move make sure to update your info with the chip company! And not to make you worry even more but when you go to the vet, you might ask them to scan for his chip to make sure it didn't fall out. I've seen it happen maybe twice... so pretty unlikely.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes we use Home again and will keep it updated, but that's good info on the falling out!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Athena is microchipped and she wears a collar tag that says "ATHENA" on the front and then the back has three lines:

    1. Primary phone #
    2. Secondary phone #
    3. I'M MICROCHIPPED

    Hopefully if she ever gets loose and someone happens to find her they will know what I'M MICROCHIPPED means!

    On our microchip we have our address, phone number, and e-mails. The shelter we got Athena from (who also inserted the chip during the spay) requires that the dogs from their shelter also have the shelter contact information on the microchip.

    I've always thought these collars were pretty cool, especially for collar tag chewers:

    http://www.shopmimigreen.com/designer-dog-collars/personalized-dog-collars/metal-engraved-personalized-webbing-dog-collar-*18-colors

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. To be honest, I'm not sure why it's important to have a tag that says "I'm microchipped" because I'm assuming it will also have your number so they can just call you without having to get them scanned.

    Earlier this year my dogs got out of the yard when they were being watched by a pet-sitter. They were not wearing collars and my neighbors brought them to the shelter. They scanned their chips and called me right away so rest assured, if Ray ended up at the shelter, they will definitely check.

    I hate having too many tags also. Mine just have a name/number tag and their license. Have you tried those tag silencers? I've also seen people rubber band all the tags together.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Our fosters are chipped with our personal info and the rescue's info until they are adopted - then the adopters info is made the primary with the other info included as well.

    Our pups are chipped but I've never thought about including info about the fact that they are chipped on their tags. Maybe I'll have to look into that....

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
01 09 10