Ask Dr. Anna: Pet flipping?

Have you heard of pet flipping? Pet flipping is a new trend where people are stealing dogs and selling them on the internet or using them for breeding purposes. Unfortunately, this has been reported around the country from pet owners and law enforcement officials.  You can protect your pet from this horrible ordeal by micro-chipping your pet and making sure your on-line contact information is correct. Also, if you purchase a pet online I recommend taking the pet to your veterinarian or an animal shelter to have it scanned for a microchip. August 15 is National Check the Chip Day.

Anna Coffin is the Veterinarian at Guthrie Pet Hospital and can be contacted at (405) 282-8796.

I recommend every pet gets a microchip, even inside only animals. This is especially important in areas where natural disasters can destroy homes and cause pet displacement. Seventy four percent of micro-chipped animals are returned home where only thirteen percent of animals not micro-chipped are returned to their owners.

There are a few important facts to understand about microchips. A microchip is also not a GPS.  Currently, microchips do not store your contact information. The microchip is just a number which is then used to trace back to you. You MUST register your microchip and keep the contact information up to date! Unfortunately, there are multiple microchip registries in the United States and they are not required to share owner information with each other.  However, you can register your microchip with multiple companies. To make it easier for veterinarians and pet owners to search the registries of most microchip manufacturers, AAHA maintains a web-based resource called the Universal Pet Microchip Lookup Tool.

Please e-mail me with your questions at [email protected] and put “Ask Dr. Anna” in the subject line or mail your questions to 123 West Harrison Guthrie, OK 73044.

Spay and neuter your pets!