Sadly, a staggering 27 percent of microchipped pets won’t be reunited with their families because their owner’s contact information is out of date, according to a recently published U.S. study.
On the plus side, in almost three out of four cases, animal shelters were able to find the owners of a lost pet using the information found on a microchip implanted in the pet.
“This is the first time there has been good data about the success of shelters finding the owners of pets with microchips," said Linda Lord, assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University. “We found that shelters did much better than they thought they did at returning animals with microchips to their owners.”
According to data from 53 shelters in 23 states, the return rate for more than 7,500 microchipped pets was 20 times higher for cats and 2.5 times higher for dogs than for all the stray cats and dogs at the shelters.
In all, owners were found for 72.7 percent of microchipped animals. In cases where the owners were not found, reasons included incorrect or disconnected phone numbers (35.4 percent), owners’ failure to return phone calls or respond to letters (24.3 percent), unregistered microchips (9.8 percent) or microchips registered in a database that differed from the manufacturer (17.2 percent).
Veterinarians key to annual information update
“Is there room for improvement? Absolutely,” Lord said. “We really need to focus on not separating the microchip implantation process from registration. Veterinarians have a great opportunity at an annual wellness exam to scan a microchip and remind the owner of the need to keep information up to date in the registry. Likewise, when shelters implant microchips, they need to tell an adopter how it works and make sure information is in the registry before the animal leaves the building."
On average, only 1.8 percent of all stray dogs and cats taken to the participating shelters had microchips. Although no statistics exist, Lord said veterinary experts estimate 5 to 8 percent of animals in the United States – mostly dogs, cats and horses – have been implanted with a microchip.
"The number of microchipped pets will only grow," Lord said, in part because animal shelters have increased the practice of implanting microchips for every animal they adopt out. The estimated cost to implant and register a microchip ranges from about $25 to $75, depending on where the service is performed.
Most people who obtain a microchip for their pet register their contact information with the chip’s manufacturer, but a pet owner also can register with another company. In addition, many animal shelters keep their own microchip registry databases.
How to update your pet’s microchip information
Due to multiple registration options, if you own a microchipped pet, you may want to take a moment to update your contact details online – you never know when you might need it. In the U.S. the Found Animals website provides a list of American microchip companies, and in Canada, pet owners can visit the Ottawa Humane Society for a list of Canadian microchip companies.