The Scotland County Humane Society will provide homing devices for potentially wayward pets at a microchip clinic this weekend.
On Saturday, the J.D. and Fran Asher Animal Shelter will host an open house from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Hot dogs and baked goods will be on sale during the day, with all proceeds to benefit the shelter’s animal residents. Several of the shelter’s adoptable animals will also be available for outdoor play time with possible adopters.
“We’re going to have baked goods, we’re going to have hot dogs with all the fixings - it’s going to be an all-day event,” said Cameron Crabb, the shelter’s adoption coordinator. “We want everybody to be there.”
During the open house, the shelter will also hold a microchip clinic for dogs from 1-3 p.m. There will be a $30 fee for microchipping, an almost foolproof method of identification in the event that a pet strays from home.
“It really does get animals back to where they belong,” said humane society President Kathy Murphy. “They’ll get a little tag that goes along with the microchip that they can put on the collar along with their ID tag, but this way, if all of that falls off and the animal ends up 300 miles away, and somebody scans it, that way they can get back home.”
Dr. Brian Schillig of Academy Animal Hospital will microchip pets at Saturday’s clinic. The microchipping procedure takes less than a minute and is no more stressful for pets than a routine vaccination.
“The thing is the size of a grain of rice and they inject it in the shoulder blades,” said humane society board member Bud McAllister. “They have a scanner here that you run over the animal, and it comes up and tells you where it belongs and who it belongs to and their phone number.”
At the humane society’s last microchipping clinic, 37 dog owners brought their pets in to be microchipped. The humane society hopes to double that number at this clinic.
“We’re trying to meet our goal and do at least 50 to 75 microchips this year,” Crabb said. “A lot of people, when I ask if their pets are microchipped, have no idea what I’m talking about. A microchip means that they can be found, no matter where they are. As long as they scan for a microchip, they could be in Oregon and it will still link back to you.”
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