All our cats are special, but now they come with something extra!

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to link you to your pet forever? Well now there is – the simple act of microchipping! In an effort to further provide life long care to the cats adopted from SAFE Haven For Cats (SHFC), HomeAgain ® Microchips are being placed in every cat we rescue.

What is Microchipping?
HomeAgain® is an advanced pet identification and retrieval system. A microchip with a unique identification code is implanted between the shoulder blades of the pet. The pet is enrolled in the American Kennel Club (AKC) Companion Animal Recovery (CAR) program. AKC-CAR maintains a national database and is available 24-hours daily, 365 days a year.

When a lost pet is found, it can be scanned at an animal shelter or the clinic of a participating veterinarian. The animal’s identification number is called into AKC-CAR (1-800-252-7894), and the pet owner is notified immediately. AKC-CAR also has an e-mail address where found pets can be reported (found@akc.org). The AKC asks anyone enrolling their pet in the program to provide alternate contacts, which may be relatives or a veterinarian. However, if they are never registered (cost is $6.25) they will still be traceable back to us. SAFE Haven is also permanently listed as a contact.

These statistics show the importance of this service:

• 30-60% of lost pets in traditional shelters are euthanized because they cannot be properly identified and returned to their owner.
• Only about 4% of cats who end up in traditional shelters are returned to their rightful owners.
• About 2 million pets reported missing each year may be the victims of theft.
• Collars & tags are a great way to identify lost pets and reunite them with their owners, but they can easily come off or be removed.
• Microchipping is permanent, completely unalterable, and does not change or harm the appearance of the cat in any way. It is about the size of a grain of rice. You cannot see the microchip after it is implanted in the cat.
  
  Sources: American Pet Products manufactures Association (APPMA) 2001-2002 National Pet Owners Survey.

Is there proof the system works?
More than 1,983,188 pets are enrolled in the AKC Companion Animal Recovery program and 97 percent of them have HomeAgain® microchips. The AKC has reunited more than 162,629 lost pets with their owners. It is proud to have a 100 percent success rate - every found pet in its system has been successfully identified.
This is just another reason to adopt one of our great cats – they are high-tech!