Microchips for pet dogs

The Makati City Government will start implanting next month microchips to at least 32,000 pet dogs in the city to help owners locate them in case they get lost.

Makati Mayor Abigail Binay said the project is part of the city’s animal identification program that would make them the first local government unit (LGU) in the country to implement the use of PET iCHIP technology in a large-scale setting.

“Through the micro-chipping program, we are protecting both pet dogs and their owners. The technology will enable us to keep tabs on dogs, ensure that they are in the best of health, and return them to their rightful owners in case they get lost. This is important for people like us who consider dogs as part of our families,” Binay said.

The bio-thermal microchips, no larger than a grain of rice, will contain information about the dog and its owner as well as data on when the dog was vaccinated against rabies. These details will be uploaded to Makati City’s database and will allow the Veterinary Services Office (VSO) to closely monitor and check the number of dogs which have been given anti-rabies shots.

The microchips are free of charge and will be implanted by licensed veterinarians from the VSO.

City VSO officer-in-charge Dr. Jing Mangahas said they already have 7,000 PET iCHIPs on hand and that the project will be launched in mid-October.

Embedding microchips on dogs, Mangahas said, have significant advantages. First, it will reduce the cost of redundant vaccination for pet animals, as well as humans. It will also promote an absolute pet recovery program since the owner, address, contact information, and the dog’s name are all entered in a database which various agencies have access to.

The PET iCHIPs can be implanted on both mature dogs and puppies. The microchips are especially useful to pet owners who travel abroad with their dogs since the chips to be used comply with international standards and the 15digit numeric code can be scanned anywhere.