Microchipping

Many kitties bolt for the outdoors at the first opportunity (and open door) they get!
Even indoor cats get wanderlust, but unfortunately, those who wander often end up lost! However, adventures don’t have to mean anxiety for their human counterparts. If you’re worried about your cat going on their own summer vacation and not being able to find their way back, bring them in for a microchip. It’s a quick procedure and the cost includes automatic registration with HomeAgain (over 2 million pets reunited) and one full year of monitoring.

Keep you and your feline’s autumn happy. Cat microchipping appointments are available now! Schedule an appointment for microchipping!

Q&A: Everything you need to know about microchipping your cat

Why does my cat need a microchip if she already has a collar with an ID tag?

Think of collar ID tags as the first line of defense in locating and identifying a lost animal – after all, a neighbor that runs across a lost cat will in all likelihood not have a microchip scanner – but microchipping your cat is the second and in many ways most important line of defense. as it ensures your cat’s identification is never lost, stolen, or compromised by the elements.

Will a chip tell me my cat’s location?

It is important to understand that a pet microchip is not a GPS device providing real-time tracking capabilities or information. Rather, a cat microchip is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) device. Unlike a GPS device, a cat microchip doesn’t require a power source, and it is activated by an animal shelter or veterinarian waving an RFID scanner across a cat’s body where the microchip is implanted. The scanner then activates the chip’s individual identification number, which is linked in a database to your ownership information.

Once the veterinarian or shelter gets that number, as well as any information about the company that made the chip, they’ll contact that company to find the cat’s owner. It’s a high-efficiency lost and found that speeds up and streamlines the process!

So, you mentioned a database. Do I need to register somewhere?

Yes! This is extremely important. An RFID chip is useless if your registration isn’t first submitted and then subsequently kept current. Don’t hesitate to ask your vet any questions about the registration process, in order to ensure your feline friend can be accurately identified with his or her microchip.

Do all shelters scan lost cats for microchips just in case?

To our knowledge, just about every animal shelter and veterinarian in the United States has an RFID device to detect a microchip for cats. However, there are various cat microchip manufacturers, and because of this, not all RFID scanners can detect every microchip for cats.

Therefore, shelters and veterinarians may keep several different scanners on hand to detect different cat microchip brands. Since cat microchips can migrate in the body, it is a good idea to ask your veterinarian during each checkup to scan the pet microchip to make sure it is still reading, and is also still located where it should be.

How can I set up an appointment to have my cat microchipped?

If you are ready to schedule an appointment for microchipping, please contact us today at 203-690-1099. The Aristokatz staff would be happy to help you register your feline friend with the pet recovery service database.