Being a pet parent comes with responsibilities. Just a few include making sure your pet is safe in a car and has access to great veterinarian.
Another responsibility is making sure your pet has identification in case he or she gets lost or escapes. (This is especially important when it comes to keeping pets safe during natural disasters.) Microchipping is a popular option in which a veterinarian implants a tiny chip under a pet’s skin. When a scanner is passed over the chip—which is about the size of a grain of rice—a radio frequency emits a unique ID code. This ID code displays the name of registry that a veterinarian or animal clinic can contact to find out who the owner is.
A collar with an ID tag is another option to identify a lost pet. But collars can come off, making a microchip a safer bet. For the safest bet of all, use both a collar and a microchip. On rare occasions, microchips can malfunction or stop working. There’s also the possibility that the person who finds your pet doesn’t use a scanner correctly.
Different chip makers maintain different registries that store pet parents’ contact information. To help streamline things, the American Microchip Advisory Council is working to develop a single network of the registry databases.
No matter which registry your microchip connects to, it’s important to ensure that the information in that registry is correct and up to date. That’s why it’s so important to contact the registry when you move or change phone numbers. You may be charged a few dollars to update your information, but it’s a small price to pay to help ensure the safety of your pet.
Erie Insurance can also help protect your furry family members with pet injury coverage that’s automatically included in ERIE auto policies*. It covers up to two dogs and/or cats that are injured in your vehicle at the time of an accident. Contact an Erie Insurance Agent in your community to learn more.
*Not available in North Carolina.
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