How Much Does it Cost to Microchip a Cat

If you are wondering, “how much does it cost to microchip a cat,” the chances are that you either are a new cat owner or new to the latest technologies used to protect and ensure the safety of our beloved friends.

Most people consider the price of microchipping their cat based on what they will pay at the vet and not necessarily, what it will generally cost them once the microchipping is done. It’s best to look at the “overall cost” of microchipping your cat, as that is what will ultimately let you know the true price of having your cat microchipped.

Money – The main concern

Your main concern is money, so let’s get it done over with. It’ll cost you around $45, on average, to have your precious pet microchipped. It is a onetime charge; once you pay for it, that’s it. You’ll never pay for anything else as far as microchipping is concerned.

The Cat and the Microchip

Other concerns may trouble you. For instance,

• * Whether the process is painful to your buddy
• * How will your cat adapt to the microchip
• * Maintenance?

At this point, I would like to clarify that you should not be concerned about these things, and here’s why.

The microchipping process is as painful as a regular vaccination for the cat. No, there won’t be any surgical procedures. The process involves the injection of the microchip under the loose skin between the cat’s shoulder blades using a sterile applicator. The method takes as long as it would take to vaccinate the cat; a few seconds. That’s it.

The cat will not react in any abnormal ways to the microchip since it is made of biocompatible substances, meant to last as long as your cat is alive.

Furthermore, the chip does not need any external power source to function because it uses RFID (Radio-frequency Identification) technology. It will always react to a microchip scanner whenever one has hovered over the region it is implanted.

Identification

The main reason you would have your cat microchipped is to make it easier to identify and returned home in case it gets lost.

Unlike dogs, most cats don’t wear a collar that identifies them, which means that they tend to get lost often than dogs. And since they don’t wear a collar, strangers won’t be able to tell who they are or to whom they belong.

Nonetheless, with a microchip, if a caring stranger takes a lost cat to a vet, it can be scanned, and the owner identified instantly.

Once you have your cat microchipped, ensure that it is registered, with your contact details, in a countrywide pet recovery database like HomeAgain. In case your contact details change in the future, like when you move or change your number, remember to update the same information at the pet recovery database.

By the way, in some cases, your cat may come already microchipped. This is often true for pets acquired from a breeder. If this is true in your case, it may be preferable to first confirm with your vet whether your cat is already microchipped. If it is microchipped, don’t be alarmed. All you have to do is have its identification number detected and registered, and remember to include your contact details in the process.

Conclusion

So, how much does it cost to microchip a cat? As far as money is concerned, around $45; there are no maintenance fees, no updating fees, and no surgical fees. The benefits you get from the procedure are worth the money, and to some degree, they outweigh the cost. To most cat lovers, our cats mean the world to us. I hope you are convinced that you should not even be hesitant about microchipping your cat. Go for it!