Low-Cost Microchips for Pets

Few things are as heart-wrenching as a pet that has gone missing and never turns up again, leaving worried owners always wondering what happened. Save yourself from this unhappy ending by having a tracking microchip implanted in your pet.

Bring your pet into the Baltimore County Animal Shelter in Baldwin for a low-cost microchip.

• The shelter offers microchip insertion for a total cost of $20 per pet.
• At a private vet, the cost of the microchip, tracking service and insertion can run anywhere from $35 to $60.
• All animals adopted from a shelter already receive microchips as part of their adoption fee.

The tiny devices, only about the size of a grain of rice, each have a unique number that scanners used at most animal shelters can read. When pets with microchips come into shelters, the staff can quickly identify their owners by checking the numbers with the microchips' maker.

Anne Arundel County Animal Control occasionally offers clinics for the public to bring in pets for $20 microchips. The Baltimore County service is available Thursdays only at the Baldwin location. Call 410-887-5961 for more information.

If you don't live in either of these counties, ask your vet about the service. It may cost more, but you'll think it's worth it if your pet is ever lost.