Through the leadership of Mayor Vico Sotto, the City Veterinary Services Department and with the help of Plaridel Products & Services Inc., the LGU launched the Pet iChip project, a pet identification program using microchip technology.
Pet iChip supports the city’s goal of eradicating rabies and promoting responsible pet ownership.
In recent years, both the national and local government units strive to control rabies through vaccination campaigns or the impounding of stray dogs. Although these efforts reduced the incidence of clinical rabies cases, the bites reported were not actually from rabid dogs, but from animals of uncertain vaccination history.
This prompted Mayor Sotto to adopt a system that will properly identify and view a dog’s health history accurately at any given time, hence the initiation of the pet microchip program.
Vaccination drives against rabies will continue. However, after the immunization, the implantation of the microchip in pets shall provide the following information: breed and description, health and immunization history, and the contact details of the registered owner.
This information will be uploaded with all confidentiality in the pet registration system of the City Government of Pasig.
Just about the size of a grain of rice, the microchip used in the program is a permanent and tamper-proof identification for pets. Gone are the days when pet owners would attach animal tags to their pets and lose them in the process.
Pet iChip utilizes the RFID (radio frequency identification device) technology that reads the ID number through radio frequency, which is implanted by authorized veterinarians between the animal’s shoulder blades.
With this, it can closely monitor and check the number of animals that have already been vaccinated with anti-rabies shots.
To ensure that this will be enforced at all levels of the city, deputized offers in all the barangays of Pasig will be issued with a microchip scanner and a mobile application.
The scanners (or readers) are handheld equipment that read the microchip implanted in the pet, while the mobile app will serve as the information retrieval system that can acquire the identity, owner and vaccination history of the dog in real-time. All the deputized officer has to do is to scan the dog, type the number in the mobile app and the information will be retrieved.
Another beneficial feature of the microchip allows the reading of the pet’s body temperature. The Pet iChip variant from the company Plaridel Products & Services Inc. is incorporated with the temperature sensing feature called BIO-THERMO. This can determine abnormal temperature readings without causing the animal any discomfort.
This is important in the health monitoring of pets to promote further animal welfare through identification and tracking.
This effort by the City of Pasig is also in accordance with law as mandated by Republic Act 9482, or the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007.
Through the launch of Pet iChip, Pasig City moves a step closer to achieving its goal to create a healthier, livable and sustainable ecopolis; making the city a safer place for both humans and pets.