DAVAO CITY: The City Veterinarian's Office (CVO) here is offering microchipping services for pets, following the program's launching last week.

'We launched the microchipping of dogs and cats for registration here in Davao City in coordination with nongovernment units that donated microchips and also the detector for microchips,' Dr. Gay Pallar, chief of Animal Husbandry and Disease Control Division, said.

Pallar said the microchip is equivalent to the size of a grain of rice and is implanted through injection between the shoulder blades of the animal. Once implanted, the microchip becomes a permanent identification of the pet, and the owners' information is linked to the pet's identification, making it easy to recover lost or stolen pets.

Pallar said that PAWSitivity Project Philippines Inc. and Bantay Hayop Davao donated the microchips and the microchip scanners.

Meanwhile, in observance of the Rabies Awareness Month in March, Pallar said that the city government will conduct simultaneous free anti-rabies vaccination and castration in the villages.

With the availability of vaccines, the city targets to inoculate 120,000 animals for the year 2023. For the year 2022, a total of 116,540 dogs and cats were vaccinated.

From January to the present, the city has already vaccinated 13,549 animals.

Apart from the rabies prevention measures, Davaoeños are urged to become more responsible pet owners as the CVO notes that the number of cats and dogs being impounded remains high with an average of 25-30 cats and dogs per day caught roaming on the city streets and only 10-12 percent were claimed by their owners.

The CVO is mandated to impound stray animals on the street under City Ordinance 1457, Series of 1974.