Microchipping and Vaccinating Your Pets

Folks at the Humane Society of Savannah-Chatham County are doing their part to keep pets in our community safe from rabies, bordetlla and in the event that they get separated from their families. 

On Saturday, the Humane Society held a low cost clinic.  The vaccines for rabies and bordetella along with microchips for dogs cost $30, while cats were microchipped and registered for $15 and received rabies shots for $10.  (cats don’t need bordetella, only dogs do.)  If your pets are lost or separated from you in an event like hurricanes Rita and Katrina, they can be scanned, your contact information will come up in a computer system and you will be contacted.

“The scanner that picks up the chip is registered on a national registry so if your animal for example was running loose and someone inadvertently picked them up at the McDonalds because they thought they were a stray and they took them to Kansas, a vet in Kansas, when they took the dog to a vet in Kansas would scan it and see that there was a chip, would go online and see that the pet was registered to you,” explains Lynn Gensamer, director of the Humane Society, Savannah Chatham County.

Microchipping at a vet usually costs anywhere from $50-$60, so Saturday’s low cost clinic was well worth the trip.  If you missed Saturday’s clinic, don’t worry, you’re in luck.  The Humane Society of Savannah-Chatham County offers microchips for $25.  You have to call ahead of time to ensure that someone qualified to do the chipping is available.  You can reach the Humane Society at 912-354-9515.  They are located at 7215 Sallie Mood Drive off of Eisenhower Drive. 

It is the law to get rabies shots for your pets.  Rabies can be contracted from bats or raccoons and Humane Society officials say it’s especially important to get shots in our area because there are so many raccoons.  There is no cure for rabies, it is deadly.  Rabies shots run about $15 at a vet.

Bordetella is a virus dogs get, that’s like a cough or a cold for humans.  It is important for your dogs to have bordetella vaccine because they need it to be boarded, go to doggie day care or even to dog parks.  It is a 6 month vaccine.  It typically costs $15-$20 at a vet.

To learn more about the importance of microchipping and vaccinating your animals, watch the attached video with Lynn Gensamer, director of the Humane Society of Savannah-Chatham County.