Microchips aid in pet-owner reunification

Assistant Professor Linda Lord said her team found the return-to-owner rate for cats was 20 times higher and for dogs 2 1/2 times higher for microchipped pets than for all stray cats and dogs entering shelters.

"This is the first time there has been good data about the success of shelters finding the owners of pets with microchips," Lord said.

Animal microchips -- implanted and registered at costs usually ranging from $25 to $75 -- contain a unique number that's revealed when the pet is scanned by a detector. The number coincides with contact information owners register with a microchip manufacturer.

For the study, 53 shelters in 23 states agreed to maintain monthly records about microchipped animals brought to the facilities. In all, Lord said owners were found for 72.7 percent of microchipped animals. Among those found, 73.9 percent of the owners wanted the animals back in their homes.

Data were collected from August 2007 to March 2008. The shelters reported outcomes for a total of 7,704 microchipped animals.

The study appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.