Microchips are a big help in reuniting pet owners with their lost animals. If your pet becomes lost and is turned in to a shelter or veterinarian’s office, staff will be able to get your contact information from the microchip and quickly reunite you with your lost animal.The HSVC offers implantation of microchips, including entry into our database and the BeKind PetFind Registry, for $25. Lifetime registration included!

Microchipping services are offered at the Shelter, located at 402 Bryant St. in Ojai, by appointment Monday through Friday from 11 am to 4 pm. Please call the shelter at 805-646-6505 to schedule an appointment. In addition to a microchip, be sure your animal is always wearing a collar and an ID tag with up-to-date information, even if they are an indoor-only animal. ID tags can be purchased at the HSVC for only $5 plus tax.

Why should you microchip your pet?

• The American Humane Association estimates over 10 million dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the U.S. every year.
• One in three pets will become lost at some point during their life.
• A study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, including 53 animal shelters across the U.S., confirmed the high rate of return of microchipped dogs and cats to their families, and the importance of microchip registration. From the study:
  • Only about 22 percent of lost dogs that entered the animal shelters were reunited with their families. However, the return-to-owner rate for microchipped dogs was over 52percent (a 238 percent increase).
  • Less than 2 percent of lost cats that entered the animal shelters were reunited with their families. The return-to-owner rate for microchipped cats was dramatically higher at over 38 percent (more than 2000 percent better).
  • Only 58 percent of the microchipped animals’ microchips had been registered into a database with their pet parent’s contact information.

January 1st, 2021, Senate Bill No. 573 takes effect. Under this new law, public animal shelters and animal control agencies, including the Humane Society of Ventura County, will be prohibited from releasing a dog or cat to an owner seeking to reclaim or adopt the animal unless it is or will be microchipped. The microchip must have the current information of the new or present owner acquiring the animal. If the agency, shelter, or group does not have microchipping capabilities on-site, the agency, shelter, or group must make a good faith effort to locate free or discounted microchipping services and provide that information to the owner. The owner must agree to have the dog or cat microchipped within 30 days of reclaiming or adopting the animal.

Proof of the procedure must be provided to the agency, shelter, or group from which the animal came from. Animals that are medically unfit to be microchipped are exempt. Owners who sign a form stating the cost of microchipping their dog or cat would impose an economic hardship are also exempt. For more information on this bill, please visit the California Legislative Information website.