Are you going with your 4-legged friend to Europe? New european laws are about to require that all cats and dogs traveling to Europe, or within its boundaries, will need to be microchipped. The law should be in effect after July 2011, even if you have your animal tattooed and the papers to match. This will be Europe’s new standard for identifying all pets traveling by air.

How Does a Pet Microchip Work?

A pet microchip is a device no bigger than a grain of rice. Vets implant these chips into not only cats and dogs, but into all kinds of pets – even reptiles and birds can get microchipped.

The chip uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and radio waves as a medium to transmit unique information about your pet. This includes an identifying number that is accessible from a database that shows the pets name, owners name and contact information. So if your pet were to get lost, he can be scanned for a microchip and be returned easily to you.

In Europe, about one quarter of European pets have been microchipped. In the U.S., however, only five percent have a pet microchip. This works out to roughly 130 million dogs and cats.

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