Mason's Mewsings: identification

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

TNR - Trap, Neuter, Return

Mason, here! Talking to you about a very important topic with regard to felines who live outdoors. We all know the problem with feral cat colonies and cats who live outdoors: a lot of them aren't spayed/neutered and their population keeps increasing!! Trap-Neuter-Return (called TNR) is a humane and effective approach for cats living outside. Scientific studies show that Trap-Neuter-Return improves the lives of feral cats, improves their relationships with the people who live near them, and decreases the size of colonies over time.

Trap-Neuter-Return is exactly what it sounds like: Cats are humanely trapped and taken to a veterinarian to be neutered and vaccinated, and to have their ears tipped to indicate that they have been neutered and returned to the outdoors. This practice stops the breeding cycle of cats and improves their lives. Since most feral cats are not adoptable, they have been trapped by animal control services and subsequently killed in pounds and shelters due to their wild nature and lack of domesticity. Trap-Neuter-Return helps prevent the need for euthanizing these felines while allowing them to live without adding to the problem of overpopulation.

Our own Dr. Snellgrove and Vet Assistant Elizabeth Board participate in TNR clinics and love talking about their experiences in aiding outdoor felines!

Here, Elizabeth is helping another volunteer to prep cats for surgery. This involves removing hair from the surgical site and scrubbing it clean.

Here, Dr. Snellgrove (in the red top) and another doctor perform neuter and spay surgeries while technicians monitor the patients and stand by to give additional anesthesia if necessary. The doctors have to work very fast because the felines are anesthetized with injectable medications versus gas anesthesia, to prevent any medical complications.

Don't worry, this cat is just asleep! Each cat has an ID number and paperwork that accompanies it, so there's no worry of getting the animals mixed up. You may also see animals laid out on trays in preparation for the surgeries - this helps cut down on time that the cats have to stay asleep so the neuter and spay surgeries can be done quickly and efficiently.

This kitten just had her ear tipped in surgery prep (she's asleep, too!). The clamp will stay on through her surgery and be removed in recovery. Chances are if you see a cat with a clipped ear, it was once an outside cat who has gone through a TNR program and was adopted!

With Trap-Neuter-Return, veterinarian professionals can stabilize the feline outdoor population humanely, improve the cats’ lives, save taxpayer dollars, address neighbors’ concerns, and help the entire community reach a solution that benefits everyone! If you are interested in helping with Trap-Neuter-Return programs, you can contact Alley Cat Allies or Metro Ferals for more information. Here at Great Falls Animal Hospital, we work with 4Paws Rescue Team directly to care for their cats and spay and neuter them!

I hope that sheds some light on a very interesting and life-saving practice that we believe in wholeheartedly! Well, kittens, that's all for now. I'm going to snuggle up here and wait for Christmas!

Til next meow,

MASON

Great Falls Animal Hospital

703-759-2330

POISON CONTROL HELPLINE

PET POISON HELPLINE: (800) 213-5774

ASPCA POISON CONTROL: (888) 426-4435

24 EMERGENCY FACILITIES

THE HOPE CENTER- Vienna: (703) 281-5121

THE LIFE CENTRE- Leesburg: (703) 777-9968

VCA SouthPaws Veterinary Specialists & Emergency Center Fairfax: (703) 752-9100

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Why Microchipping Your Pet Works

Hello, blogger fans! It has been a long and fun summer and everything is now winding down for the fall. That also means lots of moving, kids going to school and moving for college, and fall changes. So, today, I would like to talk to you about microchipping.

What is microchipping, you may ask? Well, a microchip is a tiny electronic device (about the size of a grain of rice) that uses radio waves to transmit stored information when it is read by the right kind of scanner. Microchips for pets store a unique identification number and do not need a power source, and they have no moving parts, so they do not wear out. Microchips are made of a material that is compatible with body tissues, so rejection and infection at the site are rare. After injection, the microchip becomes encased in the tissue at the injection site (usually around the back and shoulders). It may move slightly, but it usually stays at or near the place it was injected. To read the chip, a compatible scanner must be passed over it. Different microchip companies use different chips; however, there are scanners that can read all kinds of chips.

To complete the microchipping process, you must register your pet’s microchip with the microchip company. Unless the microchip company has your information, there is no way for the identification number on the microchip to link you with your lost pet! This is the number one way to reunite an owner with their pet, and we here at our hospital have many happy stories about reuniting pets and owners due to a microchip and the information attached with the microchip.

So, what happens if your pet becomes lost? When a lost or injured pet is taken to an emergency room, veterinary office, or shelter, he or she can be scanned for the presence of a microchip. If the pet has a chip, the scanner reads the pet’s identification number. If the chip has been properly registered, the shelter or hospital can provide the number to the microchip company, which maintains the owner's contact information. The microchip company or hospital then contacts the owner, and the pet can be reunited with his or her family!

The use of tattoos as permanent identification for pets has for the most part been made obsolete by microchip technology. A microchip and an ID tag, however, work best together, and I recommend that every pet have both. The most important thing to remember about any form of pet ID is to keep your contact information current! If you move or change your phone number, update your microchip information immediately. Don’t wait, because a move is a high-risk time when your pet is more likely to slip out and go missing. And get a new ID tag as well: Many pet-supply stores have machines that make them while you wait, in five minutes or less! No excuses!

The bottom line, though, is that if your pet is lost, you want to make sure you have done everything you can to make his return home as quick and easy as possible. You don’t want to have to rely on posters plastered around town or hope a harried shelter worker will have the time and resources to figure out where your pet belongs. Tags, microchips and other innovative ways of identifying pets all help to produce happy endings for lost pets and their owners.

To sum up, here's why you should use a microchip as an identifier for your pet:

Microchips are a way of permanently identifying your pet.

Microchips must be registered with a microchip company to reunite you with your pet.

Microchipping is a simple, quick procedure that can be performed by your veterinarian.

Many lost pets are never returned to their owners because they do not have any form of identification.

To keep your pet safe in the face of the unknown, try a microchip today! Coupled with an ID tag or ID collar, your pet will have the best chance possible to be reunited with you. And I should know - I'm microchipped, too!