Microchip links long-lost pets with their owners

Mary McNee wishes her cat, Bully, could talk. Then he could tell McNee what happened during the 17 months he was missing, until someone brought him to the Humane League of Lancaster County (HLLC).

Luckily Bully was microchipped - implanted with a tiny electronic chip carrying his ownership information - so he and McNee were swiftly reunited.

Amazingly, Bully isn't the only long-lost cat in Lancaster County to return recently to his family thanks to his embedded microchip identification. Kit Cloudkicker was missing 14 months before he was found in Columbia, just two blocks from where he disappeared, long after his owners had moved.

Both Bully and Kit were adopted from the Lancaster shelter, where pets are automatically microchipped before placement. All incoming animals are also scanned for microchip ID.

Bully, now about 4, was reunited with his family in Millersville one day after he was found by a Mountville resident who brought him to HLLC. "When they called me, I just started bawling," McNee said. "I'm really glad the chip brought him back to us."

Bully is a friendly cat, and McNee believes someone took him in from February 2009 until this July. "I thank them for taking care of him, but I wish they'd taken him to a vet to check for a chip. Then we would have gotten him back sooner," said McNee. "I'd ask everyone, if you take in any animals, first see if they're microchipped."

Veterinarians and shelters usually do not charge to scan for microchips.

Kit's owner, Brandy McHenry, who now lives in Wrightsville, also wonders where her cat was from May 20, 2009, until this July 19, when the Organization for the Responsible Care of Animals brought him to HLLC.

"I was crying with my 5-year-old daughter after they called," she said. "I didn't believe it. When we got him back, he was wearing a collar so I think someone took care of him. I'm grateful."

Kit was about 13 when he disappeared from a second-floor porch, just days before McHenry got married. At the time, Kit was taking medication for thyroid, heart and kidney problems. "I didn't think he had a lot of time left," McHenry said. "I never expected to see him again."

Sadly, 11 days after Kit returned home, he was euthanized due to his illnesses. "The day after he got back, the vet examined him but he was pretty sick," McHenry said. "I think somehow he came home to say goodbye. I am so grateful that he came back. Any time we had together was a gift."

Kit and Bully are rare examples of lost cats reunited with their families, however. In 2009, the HLLC received 2,810 stray cats but only 51 - about 2 percent - returned to their owners. This year, in June and July alone, 592 stray cats arrived at the shelter and 10 were reclaimed. (Of 1,170 stray dogs received by the HLLC in 2009, 526, or 45 percent, returned home.)

"We do not keep records of the number of pets who come in with identification, but those are generally the ones who are returned to their owners," explained Megan Gallagher, HLLC vice president.

"People typically put collar tags on pets but they can fall off or the ID can rub off," said Becki Meiss, HLLC marketing assistant. "That's why we microchip. Microchips are permanent."

McHenry, a veterinary technician, knows how microchips can get pets home. "I used to preach to everyone it's worth so much more than the $45 to $60 microchipping costs, just in case something unexpected happens. Then it happened to me."

The major pet microchip registries in the U.S. are:
American Veterinary ID Devices (AVID): 800-336-AVID; www.avidid.com
Companion Animal Recovery (American Kennel Club): 800-252-7894; www.akccar.org
Home Again: 866-738-4324, http://public.homeagain.com
IDENTICHIP: 800-926-1313
24PetWatch (PetHealth Inc.): 866-597-2424, www.24petwatch.com

Fran Pennock Shaw is a Lancaster Newspapers correspondent.