Paws for Life microchips pets, aids Edmond Animal Shelter

Kathy Toppins
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND August 18, 2008 11:40 pm

— Paws for Life Inc. now offers pet owners a way to help Edmond’s homeless shelter animals while protecting their own cats and dogs. Through Paws for Life, the Edmond Animal Shelter will microchip pets from 1:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, at the shelter.
The cost for microchipping, including registration of owner information, is $25 for one pet and $20 for multiple pets.
“Payments will be made to Paws for Life, with all proceeds going to benefit our shelter animals,” said Edmond Animal Welfare Supervisor Jim Fish.
“Even fenced dogs and indoor cats can get loose and get lost,” Fish said. “All dogs and cats need collars with identification and rabies tags. With tags giving the owner’s address and phone number, neighbors often return wandering pets, avoiding a trip to the shelter.”
A microchip can be a life saver, though, if the pet loses its collar. A small computer chip, about the size of a grain of rice, is imbedded in the pet’s skin. The microchip contains identifying information that can be read by a scanner at a shelter or veterinary clinic.
“We are so excited to be able to offer microchipping on a regular schedule,” said Mary Robertson, president of Paws for Life. “We’ve offered microchipping at special events in the past. We hope our new schedule will encourage more pet owners to provide permanent identification for their pets, should they get lost.”
Ila Kay Lee, both the shelter’s administrative assistant and a veterinary assistant, will implant the universally read microchips at the shelter. Shelter staff checks for all forms of identification on incoming pets, including scanning the pet for a microchip twice, when it arrives and when it is evaluated.
That practice has been successful at reuniting lost pets with their owners.
Lee recalls reuniting a cat with its owners after it had been missing for two years. “A microchip found on a cat brought into the shelter provided a California address and phone number for the owner,” Lee said. “When I called the number, I got a recording that the number was no longer in service. After several attempts at finding the owners in California, I checked the Edmond phone book for the owner’s name. It was there. The owners were ecstatic when they got the cat back.
“The cat had escaped two years earlier as its owners were moving into their Edmond home,” Lee said. “The cat was found only three or four doors down from the owner’s new house.
“It’s so important to make sure the information on the chip is current,” Lee said, “and all it takes is a phone call.”
Updated microchip information reunited Tim Goff with his dog Hershey.
“Hershey had been hanging around a school where I mentor,” Goff said.
When the school staff became concerned about their students’ safety, Goff said he rescued the lab mix and learned she had a microchip. Unfortunately, the microchip gave information on owners in Texas who no longer wanted the dog.
“When I decided to keep Hershey, I changed the owner information on the microchip,” Goff said.
At her new home, Hershey discovered a weak spot in the fence that she was able to break through.
“I got a call from the shelter that Hershey was there,” Goff said. Shelter employees had scanned Hershey and found Goff’s information. Since then, Goff said, he has Hershey-proofed his fence.

TO MICROCHIP your pet and support homeless animals, visit the Edmond Animal Shelter at 2424 Old Timbers Drive, at the southeast corner of Interstate 35 and Covell Road. For more information, call Edmond Animal Welfare at 216-7615.

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