I have an animal : Microchipping

Microchips Keep People & Pets Together

The Seattle Humane Society offers microchip identification to animals of low-income pet owners. A microchip, the size of a grain of rice, is injected under the animal's skin between the shoulder blades. Each chip has a unique number that is registered with a national database along with the pet owner's address and phone number. The microchip can be read by scanners that are currently used by most animal organizations and veterinary clinics.

Appointments


Appointments are available on a drop-in basis 7 days a week from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m
 

Fees
Microchipping costs $20.00 per animal and includes national registration.

Please note that some companies implanting microchips have recently started using an ISO (International Standards Organization) compliant chip that is new in the United States, but widely used across Europe and Canada. Efforts are underway to develop a single 'global' scanner that will read both ISO and non-ISO microchips. At The Humane Society for Seattle/King County, we have both ISO and non-ISO scanners.

Licensing
King County residents are required to obtain pet licenses. Pet licenses are available at the Seattle Humane Society. Additionally, you can visit the County's website for more information. Seattle residents may obtain licenses directly from the City of Seattle and Renton residents may get their pet licenses directly from the City of Renton.

Microchips keep people and pets together! Despite your best efforts, your dog or cat may slip out an open door or gate and disappear. We recommend a collar and identification tag but know that they often fall off. If you microchip your pet too -the odds are much better that you'll get your best friend back! Just ask the owners of Junior, an 11-year-old tabby cat who ran away four years ago and was reunited with his family last week, thanks to a microchip scanned at the Seattle Humane Society.
 
"We thought we'd never see him again," said Junior's family, who also happen to be volunteers at Seattle Humane. "[Microchipping] is the one way you can have the hope of ever getting a lost pet back."
 
The Seattle Humane Society recommends identification tags and microchips, to provide an extra level of protection for your pet. We offer microchipping for $20.00 per animal, including national registration. Microchipping is an easy procedure that causes little to no pain to your pet. A microchip, a tiny transponder about the size of a grain of rice, is injected under the animal's skin between the shoulder blades. It bonds to their tissue and uses radio frequency waves to transmit your pet's information. Designed to work for 25 years, each chip has a unique number registered with a national database along with your address and phone number. The microchip can be read by scanners used by most animal organizations and veterinary clinics.

Want to see just how easy microchipping is? Watch a video of Merlin, the 6-month-old French Bulldog featured on KOMO 4 News, being microchipped by our veterinarians. Merlin was stolen from his owner's truck in broad daylight in May and luckily found 10 days later. Once reunited, his owners had Merlin microchipped at the Seattle Humane Society. "I'm telling everyone I know to microchip their pets right away so that something like this doesn't happen to them," said Merlin's family.


You might also like to:

READ our dog advice pages!
LEARN cat behavior tricks!
FIND OUT how to raise a critter!