Technology Helps Bring Pets Home

WASHINGTON -- An increasingly popular device is returning many lost pets to their rightful owners.

Microchips that can be implanted under the pet's skin have been around for about 10 years, but have only become widespread in the last couple of years.

The microchip is smaller than a penny and can be implanted with little discomfort to the animal. "It's maybe a second of discomfort for the animal, but low risk of any problems and it gives a permanent form of identification," veterinarian Dr. Margo Kerr said.

Any time an animal comes to a shelter, workers scan the animal with a device that reads the microchips. The microchip gives off a number that can be tracked with one of the two companies that make the chip, Home Again and Avid.

It's not just cats and dogs that can be microchipped. The American Kennel Club said rabbits, monkeys, even deer and seals are enrolled in its recovery program.

While most lost animals still do not have the devices, some 70,000 that did have since been reunited with their owners.

That is an impressive number when you consider that only about 10 percent of lost pets make it home and about half are destroyed by animal shelters.

The cost for the devices varies between $40 and $100 to implant the chip and register the number with the recovery databases.