AVID Microchip for your pet

I have briefly touched on micro-chipping your pet once before in my blog on preparing for an emergency. Today, I thought I would tell you a couple of good stories about the advantages of your pet being permanently identified.

First, let's discuss what is an AVID® microchip? A.V.I.D. stands for "American Veterinary Identification Devices". The AVID® microchip is a tiny computer chip which has an identification number programmed into it. The chip is then encased in a strong, smooth glass that is small enough to fit into a hypodermic needle. The chip it's self is no larger than a grain of rice.


Once your pet is injected with the chip, he or she can be identified throughout his or her life by this one-of-a-kind number. This identification cannot be lost, altered or intentionally removed.

How does the microchip & scanner work? Generally, this rice size chip is injected deeply under the skin and sits safely there, totally inert. A special scanner is used to send a radio signal through the skin of the pet to read the chip number. The pet feels nothing as the scanner is passed over him. When the chip receives this signal, it sends data (the microchip number) back to the scanner to be displayed in a viewing window. It appears in the viewing window, for example,as: AVID® 560*903*354.

How long does the microchip last? The microchip has no power supply, battery, or moving parts and is designed with an operating life of over 25 years. AVID® is guaranteed for the life of your pet. Once injected, the microchip is anchored in place when a thin layer of connective tissue forms around it. The chip requires no care. It will not pass through or out of the body.

When microchips are purchased, they will be traceable back to their facility of origin, in our case that would be us (Blue Springs Animal Hospital & Pet Resort)
unless the registration of the chip is changed. To change it the pet owner will need to fill out the PETtrac form and mail it in with a small fee.

The AVID® PETtrac program is a global computerized system for pets identified with the AVID® chip. Your pet is enrolled, for a small fee, under the your name with complete detailed information about both animal and owner. In this way, if a shelter picks up the pet, you, the owner, will be contacted directly without going through your veterinarian.

Otherwise, we will be contacted if a recovery is made and we will need to be sure and have your current phone number and address always on file.

All animal shelters and animal control officers have been educated and informed about microchip identification and how it works. They have universal AVID® scanners on hand and routinely scan lost pets. A majority of veterinary hospitals also have the scanners and can scan pets. Once a microchip is located in a pet, the appropriate steps are taken. If the pet is registered with AVID's PETtrac™ Recovery System, the shelter or veterinarian will be given the owner's name. If the animal is not registered, they will be given the name of the establishment that the chip was sold to, like us, if we implanted the AVID® chip in your pet.

Not long after AVID® was first introduced to the veterinary world we had a local medical doctor that decided to be one of the first to microchip his little Yorkie. Only a few months after he made this wise decision his little dog turned up missing. Six years went by and the doctor had given up thinking he would ever see his beloved dog again. Then one day someone picked up a stray Yorkie running the streets of Blue Springs. She was matted and scared. We didn't know her story but we scanned her and we were very pleased to see she had a microchip. We were also really excited to tell her owner that we had her and that she was safe. When they were reunited you could tell that neither one of them had ever forgotten the other! They both were so happy! It was something I'll never forget seeing. That has been many years ago now and she has since died of natural causes at home, which is the most any of us could ever hope for with our beloved pets!

Hurricane Katrina displaced many, many animals. It left over 250,000 stranded and starving pets!!

Our own hospital boarded a few as volunteers tried to sort out who these animals belonged too. With no tags or collars with identification, which many of these animals were without, finding their way back to their families was next to impossible. That is when the push to really get as many pets micro chipped as possible came to be. Many states in our nation are now organizing systems to try and accomplish this goal. Most of them are relying on veterinarians to educate people on the importance of having a reliable permanent identification system for their pets such as AVID®.

We strongly urge all our clients to consider this for their pets. It is an link back to you that will last for the life of your pet!

Dieting

Dieting is NO FUN! Take it from me, I've been yo-yo'ing with weight for many years now. If your a cat or dog it's even worse! As humans we can understand what is "bad" for us to eat and that we need to exercise more. We can communicate to our doctors that our backs hurt or our knees and that is why we are not as active as we need to be. Animals don't have that luxury. If we don't pick up on their needs they can go unmet.

Overweight dogs now have a friend on their side. Pfizer has come up with Slentrol, it the 1st FDA approved drug to manage obesity in dogs. It's a weight loss drug that helps them to drop pounds when combined with diet and exercise. To learn more ask one of our veterinarian's or go to the Slentrol website.

This handsome devil is Chancy,

a 4 year old cat that has been battling the bulge since 2005. Cat's can't take Slentrol but they can be put on a weight loss diet. It's important to get the weight off as being overweight can cause cats to be diabetic, have heart disease or become arthritic. Science Diet makes a formula called Prescription Diet® r/d® . He was put on a diet of 1/2 cup dry and 1/2 cup wet of the r/d® daily and has dropped 3.5 lbs. in 1 year! That is fabulous!! Prescription Diet® r/d® is low in calories, high in fiber and has the highest levels of L-carnitine to effectively reduce weight while increasing lean muscle mass to help cats feel full. Since it's hard to exercise cats it's very important to help them stay at a healthy weight by managing their diet. To learn more go to the Hill's website. We are proud of Chancy and his owners for sticking with his diet!!