Microchips: one of many ways we work to keep pets in their homes

It is a great joy for me to write our first entry in our new Richmond SPCA blog.  I hope this blog will become a wonderful vehicle for us to communicate with our supporters and, in general, with the animal lovers in our community.  I look forward to our being able to keep you informed about the significant matters going on in the humane field both locally and nationally, giving you our perspectives on those issues and hearing what you think about them, too. 

This evening we are conducting a microchipping clinic here at our humane center that will enable pet guardians to protect their beloved pets with microchips for identification at the very affordable price of $20.  We have already been overwhelmed with the public's response and the clinic has not even happened yet.  There is no question that the clinic has responded to a desperate need in our community for microchipping at a price people of modest means can afford.

Holding this clinic is consistent with one of our primary focuses as a humane organization.  We have been working very hard in recent times to help loving pet owners who are struggling to provide the care to their pets that the pets need. This helps keep pets in the loving homes they have during tough times, rather than their becoming homeless.  For the pets of low income folks; we provide free spaying and neutering and make preventative care attainable through low-cost wellness clinics. Also, we have created a pet pantry to help with needs for food, and provide low cost boarding for pets of people in short term housing crisis.  All of these services have been widely used and greatly appreciated by many loving pet parents.

There will always be some people who view these services as stepping on the toes of local full cost providers.  But, there is no reality to this objection since the fact is that the people taking advantage of these clearly desperately needed programs could never afford to provide this crucial care for their pets at the generally prevailing prices.  Our focus must always be on what saves homeless companion animals from dying, and an important means to achieve that end is keeping them in the homes they have.  We are doing, and will continue to do that in every way we are able to.  Due to the huge response to the microchipping clinic we will be holding this evening, we will doubtlessly do more of them in the near future.

Thanks for reading this blog. I hope you will enjoy it in the future and will check in with us regularly.  We will do our best to make it interesting and informative.

Comments

[Dougie Kipps]

Thanks goes out to the Staff and Volunteers of the Richmond SPCA to provide the local Community this opportunity of an Low Cost Microchip Clinic.
I had my Dog Microchip over 2 yrs ago and understand the importance of it even though she wears also wears an Collar with an ID. Also one of the Local Animal Control Officers have shown me their Scanner and how they use it to determine if the Animal has an Microchip.
The bottom line is trying to keep an Animal in their Home instead of them being Homeless.

[S. Rust]

My family and I bought our 3 dogs and 1 cat to be chipped yesterday. All the volunteers need to be congratulated on a job well done. We were very impressed with the organization and helpfullness of everyone involved. We were in and out in under 15 minutes.