Your pet needs your care and protection. That's why it's so important to keep a collar and identification tags with your name, a local contact number, and an out-of-town friend's or relative's number on your dog or cat at all times. Fortunately, a new technology now offers another tool to help reunite lost pets and their people.

Microchips can be implanted just under the skin of dogs and cats. Veterinary, animal control, animal shelter, and local humane society professionals can then use handheld scanners—just like those used in market checkout lines—to "read" the chips implanted in animals found wandering unsupervised. The microchip provides a unique code for the pet that can then be matched against an identification database.

Microchips are made to work throughout the lifetime of a pet—a chip typically lasts at least 25 years. They don't ever need replacing and can't be lost. But, as with most new technologies, microchipping isn't without problems. Chief among these is that manufacturers since late 2003 have used incompatible technologies.

Because of this some scanners can only recognize microchips made by their own manufacturers. Without a universal scanner for all types of microchips, shelter staff would have to scan an animal—who may be fearful and difficult to handle—more than once with each manufacturer's scanner. Even more problematic, not all companies provide their scanners free to shelters and other agencies, which often can't afford to buy different scanners from different manufacturers.

No company has so far provided a scanner that can read all the microchips now available. The technology exists, but the manufacturers must first agree to cooperate with one another. We've appealed to them to develop universal scanners capable of detecting all microchips, regardless of brand. We'll continue to monitor the situation and offer help in developing a long-term solution, but there are some steps you can take now.

First, don't let scanner incompatibility stop you from microchipping your pet. But check with your local shelter or animal control agency staff to make sure the type of microchip your veterinarian will implant—or the type of chip your pet already has—can be read by the scanners they use. Visit www.pets911.com or check your local telephone listings to find the appropriate agencies. If they can't read the chip, ask the microchip manufacturer to send them at least one scanner free of charge.

And please don't rely exclusively on microchips to protect your pet. In the event of accidental separation, proper identification tags are your pet's first ticket home. Microchips provide an important extra level of protection in case your pet loses his or her collar and tags. Providing your dog or cat with both tags and a microchip can help ensure a happy reunion if the unthinkable happens and your companion gets lost.

For more information on microchipping and many other ways to protect your pet, visit www.petsforlife.org. Your best friend deserves no less.