Queers and Pets – Tips on Licenses, Chips, and Tattoos

by Sophia Kelly

I recently interviewed a contact with the city of Vancouver, who agreed to speak off the record about best practices for keeping your pets safe. I am glad I did. I found out a lot about how to keep pets safe that will come in handy.

What do I do if my pet gets away?

If you leave your pet in your yard and they find a hole in the fence you weren’t aware of, or slip the leash while walking, it is a good idea to be prepared. Make sure your pet has a collar with their municipal pet license on it and a tag with their name and your phone number on it. Call your city animal shelters and animal control to let them know your pet is lost and you are looking and give your phone number if they don’t have your pet yet.

Which are better, microchips or tattoos, for helping my pet get back to me?

Make sure your pet has a microchip. This is a small bead that is injected into the skin at the back of their neck which holds a number that can be read by a special scanner like the one that reads bar codes in a supermarket. That number can be looked up online to get the last known information that the chip registry company has on you, usually the name and phone number you gave when the chip was put in. This can be used by a vet, animal shelter or animal control to contact you to return your pet.

Tattoos work in a similar way. They have a code that can be used to find the vet who did the original tattoo, and by calling that vet, someone can find out what owner they have on record for that pet and how to contact them. Tattoos are less useful than microchips as they become harder to read over time, and a stranger accessing their ear or belly can be stressful for the pet and hazardous for a stranger trying to read the tattoo.

A limitation with both tattoos and microchips is if the company holding your information goes out of business, there is no one to contact, and if the information they have on you is out of date, then the person finding your dog will not be able to reach you. It’s important to keep the vet and/or chip registry informed if you change contact information.

As of August 2024, Canadians wanting to take their cats or dogs into the USA will need to be sure their dog has a microchip. Make sure the dog’s microchip is ISO-compliant (ISO 11784/11785) so it can be detected with a universal scanner to identify them. As well, ensure that your dog’s microchip is registered with your current contact information. This is important in case your dog gets lost during your travels. There are other requirements for travelling with your pet - be sure to stay up to date on these.

Why you should have an animal license and keep that information up to date

Because chip registries and vet clinics can go out of business, it is safest to have both a tag on your pet’s collar with your current phone number on it, and a pet license from your city or town. Even if your pet gets out of their collar, the license will be recorded with your pet’s breed, chip number or tattoo and markings, which animal control can use to find you.

The city pound / animal control will not go out of business, so your information is available and can be used to return your pet to you. If you lose your dog while traveling, the animal control in your current city can use a license to get your last known contact information from the city where your pet is licensed, to return them to you.

Many animal control shelters have policies of returning your dog to you the same day they receive it without charge if your dog is licensed and this is the first time they have recovered your dog.

Revenues from dog licenses are used to maintain services for dog owners like these, to investigate dog bites, and to improve services for dogs such as off leash dog parks.

Here’s how to get a dog license in the City of Vancouver. For other municipalities, a search of ‘how to get a dog license in City Name’ should get you the information you need. Often you can buy them online and a tag will be sent to you. Most licenses will need to be renewed yearly, which you should also be able to do online.

How do I get a dog I find back to its person?

If you find someone else’s dog and it doesn’t have a phone number tag on it, you can walk it around your neighborhood on a leash in case its people are looking, or you can bring it to your city’s animal control which will attempt to locate the owner from their records or using the tag or chip information. Most will adopt the dog to someone else after a few weeks if the owner is not found.

So get your chips, collars, tags and licenses to keep your pet safe!

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