May is national Chip Your Pet Month

TACOMA — Chip Your Pet Month is celebrated every May and is meant to encourage microchipping so pets can be reunited with their owners if they go missing, according to National Today.

About 10 million pets are lost in America every year, according to Animal Humane.

Lindsey Heaney, The Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County director of communications and outreach, said in an interview that microchipping your pet is an important preventive tool and encourages all pet parents to chip their pets.

“We see this often at our shelter where an animal comes to us that was found and thankfully when we scan it, they have a microchip and it’s updated with the most up-to-date information and we’re able to reunite that pet with their family, so it keeps that pet out of the shelter,” Heaney said.

The process of microchipping your pet is quick and painless and only needs to be done once in a pet’s lifetime.

Heaney explained that the microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is placed beneath the pet’s skin, usually between the shoulders using a needle.

“There’s no medical care that needs to be done or anything like that,” Heaney said. “It’s very, very quick, just like a getting a vaccine for your pet.”

The HSTPC offers pet microchips to low-income residents for $25 which includes national registration. No appointment is necessary and the shelter can do this procedure seven days a week during business hours.

Most veterinary clinics offer microchips for pets.

If you are taking your pet to a new veterinary hospital, your pet may need to undergo a general exam before being chipped. Prices for exams vary depending on the veterinarian hospital.