SORRENTO — This year, Cara’s House Animal Shelter in Ascension Parish made a big push to make sure that cats and dogs who get lost can easily find their way back home. And during National Lost Pet Prevention Month, Cara’s House is helping ensure that animals in need of microchips have easy access to them.
“We thought that it would be very easy to do a drive-through microchip clinic,” said Reagan Daniel, President of Cara’s House. “It’s not too much work. It’s easy. People can just drive through. We don’t need a tremendous amount of stock. Let’s just see how it goes.”
After hosting its first drive-through microchip clinic earlier this year, the shelter saw a lot of success.
“The first time we did it, we had like 20 animals come through,” she said. “20 animals microchipped is 20 more that have the chance of being reunited with their owners.”
That successful first clinic prompted Cara’s House to keep hosting a drive-through microchip events every month. “We have averaged 19 to 21 animals per clinic,” Daniel continued. “We chip cats and dogs, and we hope it continues to grow.”
Drive-through clinic logistics
Cara’s House makes the drive-through clinics easy for pet owners to attend. “They pull up. We hand them a clipboard with a form that they have to fill out, with their information and their animals’ information. We scan the pet real quick, and if it’s not chipped, we microchip it, and then we give them all the paperwork,” Daniel explained.
“We give them the registration form so they can go in and register, which is super important when your animal is microchipped. I cannot tell you how many we get that come in with microchips, but the owners have never registered them, and so then there’s no way to contact them. Our goal is to always get them back home.”
If you attend a drive-through clinic, the microchip costs $10, but you can also go to Cara’s House during regular adoption hours and get your pet chipped for $20.
Chipping importance
Getting your cat or dog microchipped is the only way to ensure that you could be reunited with them if your animal runs away from home and gets lost.
“Statistics say like one in three pets will get lost at some point in their life,” Daniel said.
“Collars with tags or nameplates, are great, and we highly recommend them. But unfortunately, especially the tags that hang down, they can fall off. I cannot tell you how many times we have had people come to reclaim or fill out a lost pet report or call about their animal and say, ‘They have a collar that has a tag on it,'” Daniel said. “Low and behold, that animal comes in, and they either no longer has the collar on, or you can see the little piece that held the tag on there, but the tag is gone.”
That’s why Daniel says chipping is so important, “Microchips don’t fall out. All vets have scanners. There are emergency vets that are open 24 hours that can scan any pet that you find for a microchip,” she said. “It’s just a great way to ensure that you get your pet back.”
Cara’s House has seen multiple instances where microchips have helped reunite lost animals with their owners. “We actually had one yesterday,” Daniel said. “It’s happening more and more often.”
Upcoming clinic
Next month, Cara’s House is hoping to host its microchip drive-through clinic in a new location. “I believe in the month of August we were going to try to go across the river and do one in Donaldsonville,” Daniel said. “We have never done one across the river. There is not even a vet office on that side of the river. People who live there don’t even have the opportunity just to run 10 to 15 minutes down the road.”
Daniel said the clinic will likely be at the end of August, and the shelter will post information about it on their Facebook page. “We would love to get to the point where we’re doing 40 animals per month,” she said. “The more we can get, you know, the better off the pets are in our parish.”
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
