Email Reminders Increase the Frequency That Pet Owners Update Their Microchip Information

• Main Authors: Katie Goodwin, Jacquie Rand, John Morton, Varun Uthappa, Rick Walduck
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-01-01
• Series: Animals
• Subjects: microchip; stray; euthanasia; age; socioeconomic index; breed; cat; dog; Australia; characteristics
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/8/2/20

Stray animals with incorrect microchip details are less likely to be reclaimed, and unclaimed strays are at increased risk of euthanasia. A retrospective cohort study was performed using 394,747 cats and 904,909 dogs registered with Australia’s largest microchip database to describe animal characteristics, determine whether annual email reminders increased the frequency that owners updated their information, and to compare frequencies of microchip information updates according to pet and owner characteristics. More than twice as many dogs (70%) than cats (30%) were registered on the database; the most numerous pure-breeds were Ragdoll cats and Staffordshire Bull Terrier dogs, and the number of registered animals per capita varied by Australian state or territory. Owners were more likely (p < 0.001) to update their details soon after they were sent a reminder email, compared to immediately before that email, and there were significant (p < 0.001) differences in the frequency of owner updates by state or territory of residence, animal species, animal age, and socioeconomic index of the owner’s postcode. This research demonstrates that email reminders increase the probability of owners updating their details on the microchip database, and this could reduce the percentages of stray animals that are unclaimed and subsequently euthanized.