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MANHATTAN -- A backyard gate left ajar or a door left open a moment too long can bring anguish to a pet owner and danger to a pet loose and lost.

Veterinarians at Kansas State University hope a new procedure of microchipping pets can help some animals find their way home.

"We were looking for a way of identifying pets so if they are lost they could be recovered," said Dr. William Fortney, assistant professor of clinical sciences in KSU's College of Veterinary Medicine.

The procedure involves injecting a microchip encased in a plastic tube under the pet's skin between the shoulder blades. The chip itself is inert, it has no battery and uses no energy. When a scanner is run over the part of the animal that contains the chip, the scanner will display a number, which will match the animal up with its veterinarian and eventually, it's owner.

"You can't feel it, you can't even tell the chip is there," said Fortney. "It's not disfiguring and it doesn't require sedation for insertion like other permanent identification can. It can't be changed and it can't be altered."

Inserting the microchip takes only about as long as vaccinations, Fortney said. And almost any pet can be microchipped including turtles, snakes, birds and ferrets as well as cats and dogs.

The microchip manufacturer has donated a scanner to the Riley County (Kan.) Animal Shelter which pledges to scan any animal brought to it, to scan again before an animal is euthanized and to scan dead animals.

"This way there can be no question about what happened to an animal," said Fortney. "That can be a relief for some people who won't have to worry about what happened to their pet."

But the chip is not a replacement for a collar and tags, Fortney said. For more information, pet owners may contact the KSU Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at 785-532-5690.

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