Penn Veterinary Supply, Inc. - Since 1981

Here’s a pop quiz for you: What percent of dogs and what percent of cats in shelters without ID tags or microchips get reunited with their owners? Go ahead, take a guess!

Scroll over the white text for the answer: 15% of dogs and 2% of cats

When you consider that 10 MILLION dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S. every year, as estimated by the American Humane Association, that’s a lot of pets that aren’t reunited with their owners. On the flip side, the return-to-owner rate for microchipped dogs is over 52% and the return-to-owner rate for microchipped cats is over 38%. The numbers alone show why it’s so important for pet parents to microchip their pets. June is National Microchipping Month and we’re here to help you create a plan to ensure that every pet in your community gets chipped.

What can you do?

• Create a puppy/kitten wellness package in your practice! Tally up the price of all predictable office visits, rechecks, diagnostics, vaccinations, flea/tick/heartworm preventives, spay/neuter, etc. and include a microchip. Offer clients a discount for the package and give them an opportunity to commit to 12 payments throughout the first year. Chances are you will see increased compliance since it’s all wrapped into one neat package! It also does double-duty by protecting preventive business from OTC channels.
• Get out into the community. Host an event or grab space at a community event. Educate on the importance of microchipping. It’s also a great opportunity to talk about your puppy/kitten wellness package.
• Plan social media outreach. Share stats (Click here to download some free social media posts) and share return stories from your practice, if you have them. If not, there are many available online, share them!
• Ensure that your staff informs clients of the importance of microchipping throughout the series of puppy/kitten visits. Remember, most of them will need to hear it multiple times for it to stick! Remind them that it isn’t just about their pet running away - microchips have been useful in identifying stolen pets to return them to their rightful owners and they have even been used to identify people in case of medical emergencies, where the pet owner had no identification on them!
• Remember, an unregistered microchip is a useless microchip! Some services require an annual fee for registration. Consider a microchip that includes lifetime registration so that you can be confident the microchip will be useful if and when the need arises - The Datamars microchips we sell include a lifetime membership in the PetLink database.

Now that you’re pumped about National Microchipping Month - get planning! Use these ideas to inspire and encourage you. And remember - though we use June as a time to raise awareness, you should treat every month like it’s national microchipping month.

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