Is Your Microchipped Pet Protected?
If your pet has a microchip, Petfinder recommends that you register that chip with HomeAgain. Here’s why.
For just $17.99 (or $10.99 for the first year if you adopt from a participating Petfinder shelter or rescue group), you’ll get:
- A permanent listing with FREE, unlimited updates for the rest of your pet’s life. Your pet’s chip number and your contact information will be entered into HomeAgain’s national pet-recovery database. It will never be deleted, and you can update it as often as you need, for free, even if you never renew your enrollment!
- Free, unlimited access to the ASPCA’s emergency medical hotline — which would otherwise cost $65 a call! You’ll have 24-hour access to licensed veterinarians who can offer medical assistance by phone or direct you to a nearby emergency vet.
- A nationwide network of more than 600,000 people on the lookout for lost pets. As soon as you report your pet missing, HomeAgain will instantly send lost pet alert e-mails and faxes to animal shelters, vet clinics and volunteer PetRescuers in the area your pet was lost.
- Lost-pet specialists available 24/7. HomeAgain’s trained counselors are available around the clock — even on holidays — to guide and assist you until your pet is recovered. Just call 1-888-HOMEAGAIN (1-888-466-3242).
- Travel assistance if your pet is found far from home. If your lost dog or cat is found more than 500 miles away from home, HomeAgain will cover up to $500 to have him or her flown home.
Microchip Enrollment Could Save Your Pet’s Life
Still not convinced?
You may know that your pet is microchipped … but not much more. If your pet gets lost (as one in three pets will), will he or she be returned to you?
According to a recent study of strays entering shelters*, microchipped pets are much more likely to be reunited with their families:
- The median return to owner (RTO) rate for microchipped dogs was 52%, versus 22% overall (238% better with a microchip).
- The median RTO rate for microchipped cats was 39%, versus 2% overall (over 2000% better with a microchip).
Why weren’t 100% of microchipped pets returned? Because it’s just as important that the contact information associated with the chip be up-to-date — and often, it is not. According to the same study, only 58% of microchipped animals were registered in a database.
Don’t take any chances. Register your pet’s microchip in the HomeAgain Pet Recovery Database.
*Lord, Linda K., DVM, PhD, et al. “Characterization of animals with microchips entering animal shelters,” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol 235, No. 2, July 15, 2009.