Question on dog tags

[Mary Plummer]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to our pet supply store tomorrow, and they have a machine for making tags that I'll try. I think I'll put his name on this one. Anything that might help get him back to us, if he ever gets lost, I'll do! We don't get rabies tags here. Rather, we buy city license tags, and present rabies vaccination certificates to get them. They keep the name/address of our vet practice in his records. Rabies is the only vaccination required to get the city tag. A lot of people don't get these, however, which I think is unfortunate. I talked to a co-worker about this once, and she says she doesn't because, first, she has 5 dogs, which is over the city limit without a kennel license. She also said she thinks it's the city's way of trying to get more money out of people, and to "penalize dog owners." I don't agree with her about this at all. I figure that, if Mr. Blue ever did get loose, the first group a lot of people would call would be our local animal control. I definitely want it on record with them that I'm a responsible dog owner and have all of my contact info available to the city if necessary.

[arki]

Thanks, Traci!
That is very useful information.
I'm also very glad that you reminded me of what most vets will do when an un-IDd (is that a word?) animal comes in.

Having a very unique vet myself who will let 10 regular (cat hating) clients with non-urgent dog problems wait for an hour to treat a semi-feral cat that is brought in by a bunch of kids after being hit by a car, and who will rarely go home without an animal or two, I keep forgetting that he is far from the norm.
He will do much more than the basics, knowing perfectly well that no one will pay the bill.
Of course, we always feel that we more than make up for his financial loss with our furkids' medical expenses (LOL), but we have checked around and he doesn't charge more than "normal" vets would.

Thanks again!
Looks like we really do need bigger tags...

[Traci]

We would all like to think that vets will treat any emergency regardless of identification of the pet, but beyond that, is where policies come into place. For example, if a vet treated a pet extensively (high costs incurred) and the owner was finally reached and had not given prior consent, they could sue that vet because he treated without consent, or refuse to pay the fees. While most owners are greatful their pet was found/treated and will gladly pay the fees, there are occasional idiots who take it to the extreme. Some clinics may not even relinquish the pet back to the owner without recovering the fees (or partial fees) and then the problems start. (although I think it's fairly rare an owner will take a vet to court, the costs would exceed those of the actual veterinary treatment). On the otherhand, in that particular situation with an idiot owner, I'm sure most vets are more happy they were able to treat the pet effectively and save a life and will suffer the loss of payment.

Since our local animal shelter is contracted with the city, they reimburse the clinic for treatment fees incurred (in full or partial, depending on the case) for an unidentified pet.

[Mary Plummer]

It's hard to believe that an owner would be so unfeeling as to NOT pay a vet for treatment in an emergency like that! I most definitely would, and be very grateful for it! I got Mr. Blue's new tag today, with his name, our name, and our address and phone number on it. At our store, you buy tokens for the tag machine from the clerk. He was a guy who lives in our neighborhood, so I was telling him how we needed a new tag for Mr. Blue. He said that everyone knows whose dog that is, and likes him, and would go knocking on doors looking for me. I thought that was really nice!

[k9Karen]

That's great, Mary! Knowing you have neighbors that care can really ease your mind. Of course, there is always the idiot who won't even try and will just call Animal Control, or worse, get out the shotgun to try to scare the dog off. You can never protect your dog from the idiots, but it's great to know that most of your neighbors do care. The last time Angel got out, she went wandering through the neighborhood and went right up to some people who were out walking. They thought she belonged to another neighbor who also has shelties and took her there. That neighbor knew she was mine and started walking her back to the house. We have a bunch of shelties in our neighborhood, so it's amazing that she got headed back in the right direction. So far, we've gotten her back twice when she decided to go exploring, and I definitely credit the tag for getting her back the first time. The second time, I think most people would have looked at it; the ones who found her thought they already knew where she belonged and didn't look. We also had a cocker spaniel show up in our driveway a year or so ago. From his tag, I knew he belonged to the people in the house behind us and I took him back. They seemed surprised - didn't even know he was out!

I need to get Foxy a tag. I was looking on-line, and there are several sites that sell dog tags. I'll probably just go ahead and get new ones for the other two at the same time. Theirs are getting worn and could stand to be replaced.

[E's]

This is a very informative thread - especially interesting to see how rules vary from place to place on this important subject. It is now time for my dog and cat to have their annual shots and new license tags (yes, cat too, though he is strictly an indoor kitty - see below.) I plan to ask vet for opinion re Winnie's microchip... like maybe adding an ear tattoo in case no one thought of scanning for the chip?...

...A yellow lab mix was killed by a car here in front of my house on the afternoon of Christmas Eve... he had a collar but no tags; all of us had seen this dog and knew he belonged to someone nearby; our postman also thought he knew who it was and I talked to a neighbor who said she thought so too and she lived next door to these people... but they never came forward, so I had to dispose of the poor dog the only way possible - through City Sanitation Dept... it was all very sad. I plan to write of this on the memorial board (promised the old fellow I would) so won't go on about it here, but this is one of several reasons I've had this ID thing on my mind.

Another reason is the big wreck I had in August - a rear tire of "Winnie's Wagon" blew out on Interstate 10 in a wilderness area just west of the Baton Rouge bridge over the Mississippi. The Taurus wagon spun out and was totaled when the rear hit a post or a tree... Neither Win nor Q Cat nor I were hurt, but the aftermath of the spectacular wreck was rather terrifying - at one point Win actually climbed out through the rear hatch where the window was gone... saw all the strangers and the trucks roaring past and climbed over baggage and all right back into her nest! Q was in his carrier on the front seat but while we waited for animal control, the medics brought that into the ambulance with me. Pets were taken to a small town animal shelter while I was taken to a Baton Rouge hospital. Win was wearing two collars and 3 tags altogether, and I had a chance to tell the nice animal control man that she is microchipped. Q is an indoor cat, but as a rule wears his collar and two tags - city license and rabies - just as a dog would. But when I put him in his carrier that day, the expandable "safety" collar slipped off so I fastened it to the door of his carrier, planning to put it back on him when we stopped at a motel for the night (usually I drive straight through to Austin or San Antonio from New Orleans but had a very late start that day.) Thus, I have some advice for cat owners too, about collars and tags. To be continued>>> Anyway, thanks everyone!

[MicksMom]

Mick has 2 ID tags. One just has our name, address and phone number. I got the second one after he was microchipped. It has Avid's 800 number and Mick's ID number on it. I decided to leave the first one on him just in case, by some chance he got out and ended up at a neighbor's house. Not all our neighbor's know him (too many new people moving in around here).

[TheSkeptic]

We microchip ours and have tags. THe problem with tags is that they can get lost or removed.