PSA - dog tags

[Slave to the Phone]

I was driving home last night when I saw a border collie (?) running down the road after a truck. The truck was heading for the highway and the driver didn't seem to notice the dog. I turned around to try to stop the truck, but it was already turning onto the highway, so I turned around again, pulled up next to the dog, opened the car door and told the dog to get in. She hopped in and I brought her home.

She had a collar and a license tag and a rabies tag. Of course, it was after 5 and I couldn't get any information, so dog spent the night in our shed and had cat food for dinner. This morning, I called the vet that had given the dog her rabies shot and told the lady who answered the phone that one of their patients had gotten lost and that I wanted help finding her person.

Lady took my name and phone number and said that someone would get back to me. Less than 5 minutes later, a very worried and upset sounding man called me asking if I had his dog. 10 minutes later, there was a very joyful reunion of dog and man. Man told me that dog usually hid in the bathtub during thunderstorms but must have gotten scared and ran away. Man had been up since dawn looking for dog and was very worried about her.

If dog hadn't been wearing tags, she might have never found her person again which would have been a sad ending to the story.

td:dr version: If you have pets, be sure that they have ID. Even the best mannered dog (or cat) could end up on the street. Shelters are full of very nice animals who didn't have ID. Its a small thing that could make a BIG difference.

[EricKei]

THIS. I used to have a husky who was capable of jumping 7-foot+ fences with a running start, and would occasionally do so when bored. He was both tagged AND chipped, including a custom tag that had my name and number on it.

Those microchips are a blessing, too. Painless for the critter (they sit under the skin in the scruff of the neck, IIRC), Something like $25/year for the monitoring service, they cannot be removed by any means short of intentional surgery, and they link vets to a national database containing owner info and their medical history.

[mathnerd]

Last year an extremely friendly and cuddly grey cat let himself into my house via an open bedroom window (on the top floor, no less). Very friendly cat stayed the night in my bathroom and took a trip (in a bird cage, as I don't have a cat carrier) to the vet, where he was scanned and found to be chipped. Two phone calls (one to the microchip company, one to the owner), and 15 minutes later both kitty and human were reunited in a deliriously happy reunion for both of them.

Tags can be lost, collars can fall off. They're great but it's even better to have microchip back up.

[Sparklyturtle]

We adopted our two tabby sisters from the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood, Oregon, and they came to us with chips. Then, when we moved, it occurred to me that I should re-register their information, so I contacted the Cat Adoption Team to ask how to do that. They told me who I needed to contact, and it was (IIRC) $15/cat to re-register them on a one-time basis. The person from the Cat Adoption Team told me this is something people often forget to do, and if their cat gets lost but has a chip the information is outdated so it's harder to find their owner.

[Slave to the Phone]

(snipped)
Tags can be lost, collars can fall off. They're great but it's even better to have microchip back up.

I am in total agreement with you. I'm so glad that your kitteh story has a good ending and I wish more people here chipped their pet. Heck, all of my cats are chipped and I'm considering having hubs and our best friend chipped. (Mostly because for some reason, after they turned 65, they have reverted to teenagers. They aren't having memory issues or anything like that. They have just decided that they are going to die in the next 10 years so lets party like its 1999! When one of them winds up killing themselves by climbing the wrong rock, I want to make it easy for him to be identified.)



I live half way between Deserted and The College Town that used to be The State Capitol. That means that I live in the sticks. There are some people who are responsible pet owners, but most aren't.

AND I wanted to get dog (Jeanie) home as soon as possible. The only place where the suck happened was when I called Animal Control to ask them to give me a number for the owner. They refused. It seems as though they/policy thought that it was better to send an AC person out 30 miles, put Jeanie in a cage and drive her 30 miles back, put her in a different cage next to all of the other lost dogs, then make the owner wait until they opened on Monday morning. Of course, this would mean that he would have to pay the $85 dollar "stray pick-up" fee and the money for keeping her over the weekend.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I'm considering having hubs and our best friend chipped. (Mostly because for some reason, after they turned 65, they have reverted to teenagers. They aren't having memory issues or anything like that. They have just decided that they are going to die in the next 10 years so lets party like its 1999! When one of them winds up killing themselves by climbing the wrong rock, I want to make it easy for him to be identified.)

[OT] They should a new purpose for their life in retirement, like I did. When I retired I made a vow to be retired longer that I had worked. So I have to last until I am 91. Only 23 years to go. [OT]

[Deserted]

By that logic, if I retire at 65, I'll have to last until I'm 105!

On the other hand, I know a guy who retired in his 30's...

[Sliceanddice]

I live half way between Deserted and The College Town that used to be The State Capitol. That means that I live in the sticks. There are some people who are responsible pet owners, but most aren't.

it was even worst in I Can See Mexico From My House, so many retirees (and other younger people as well) didn't seem to want to tag their dogs. I went past a dog park a lot and I would see 1 dog in 5 wearing a collar, leading me to wonder if they even had tags. I had several neighbors with dogs and I only ever saw one with a collar and tags when they were outside with them. The rest were all tag-less and half collar-less.

[CyberLurch]

Mostly because for some reason, after they turned 65, they have reverted to teenagers.

My lovely lady would disagree with you. She maintains that men CANNOT 'revert' to a teenager phase because we never grow out of it in the first place. Of course, she never saw me when i was a teenager...

[The Braindead Live]

Itd:dr version: If you have pets, be sure that they have ID. Even the best mannered dog (or cat) could end up on the street. Shelters are full of very nice animals who didn't have ID. Its a small thing that could make a BIG difference.

Excellent PSA. That being said, it is also a heartwarming story and I'm glad that you went to the effort to reunite man and animal.

[Slave to the Phone]

Thank you for your kind words. I honestly didn't post this for praise, rescuing critters is just something I do because I couldn't live with myself if I looked the other way. I posted the story as a reminder for folks. Its so easy to forget to tag a pet when it first comes home, and then, after a while it becomes status quo.

Every time I pick up a critter from the side of the road, it reminds me to check our cats, hence the reminder to folks here to tag pets (and maybe check to be sure that Fido or
Fluffy hasn't managed to remove said tags).

[Seanette]

The Princess is chipped, and I made sure her info was updated when we moved. Scanning her (assuming that Miss Razorfang Scissorpaws doesn't shred a stranger daring to handle her ) would yield our contact info.

[EricKei]

Seanette - If you've not done so in the past, see if Mme. Scissorpaws reacts well to catnip. Most cats (around 60-75%) get the whole "act like a kitten thing" but then end up basically stoned for an hour or two afterwards. I have found that this is an excellent time to get them into the kitty carrier and off to the vet. Most of the rest (including all of the cats I've had in the past decade) skip the acting crazy thing and just go straight to being stoned. Some adult cats. along with pretty much any cat under 9 months old or so (IIRC) are basically immune to the stuff, however.

Also, if your vet has Feliway spray or an atomizer in their office, it REALLY helps cats calm down, I've found. It was a godsend when I moved to another house a few years back. No marking or anything (FW is an odorless (to humans) synthetic hormone that mimics the "feel" of the marking scent). Worth looking into.

[mathnerd]

Though speaking of chips, I really need to get my birds chipped. My macaw doesn't fly at all, as she's only got one wing. My senegal doesn't fly either, but not for lack of trying to teach him! I'm fairly sure he was clipped before he fledged and never developed the chest muscles required. He tries with everything his tiny little body has, but most of the time he just drops like a rock. On a really good day he can managed a controlled fall, but that's not often. Anyway, flight risk isn't so high, but you never know what else might happen. Mr. Mathnerd's amazon and cockatiel should also be chipped, but that's his responsibility. I can't afford all four. I just dropped nearly $1000 in vet care for the new-to-me macaw. I'm tapped out.

[wheeitsmee]

Ours were chipped and licensed as soon as possible.

I had to call Animal Control last week, though. There was a dog wandering the neighborhood we were walking. Would NOT "come" when called. I hope they found him.

PLEASE teach your dogs to "Come".

I found a black lab last year that was able to be returned to it's owner. It had slipped it's collar and wasn't chipped. But it did come when called (and apparently it's name was "GoodBoy!", LOL).

I was able to get it and take it to Animal Services (we are a no-kill county). Picked up the next day by the owner.