Would Your Pet Get Home After a Disaster?
Take Measures to Ensure Your Pet Gets Home if Disaster Strikes
You never know when disaster’s going to strike and if you have a pet, you need to make sure you’ve taken measures to help your pet get back home should he become lost in the event of one. Images of one lost pet after another passed before our eyes after Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. How many of those pets will find their way home? If you want to give you and your pet the best chance of a post-disaster reunion, you’ll want to be prepared for the worst.
Microchip Your Pet
In the event of a disaster, a microchip in your pet can prove to be invaluable. Most humane societies and animal control officers scan the lost pets they pick up for microchips. Imagine how easy it would have been to reunite the New Orleans pets with their owners if they all had microchips.
The good thing about putting a microchip in your pet is the fact that even if your pet’s collar falls off, your pet still has means of identification. By scanning your pet, a humane society or animal control officer would be able to find out who your pet belonged to and could contact you or one of the alternate contacts you had listed when you registered your pet’s microchip.
Don’t Overlook the Benefits of Pet Tags
Even if you microchip your pet, you are still going to want a tag on his collar. While a microchip is a great way for humane organizations and animal control officers to identify your pet, if an average citizen were to find your pet he or she would have no way of knowing who the pet belonged to.
When getting a collar tag for your pet, I highly recommend the type of tag that is linked to a pet recovery database. Instead of featuring your name and address, these pet tags feature an 800 number and an identification number. If your pet were to become lost, the person who finds your pet would be able to call the 800 number on the tag, give the operator the identification number engraved there and get your contact information including your alternate contact information so they could get your pet back to you.
By combining the use of pet microchips and pet tags, you will give your pet the best chances of getting back to you should you become separated by an emergency or disaster.