Veterinary visits rise as Montreal pet microchipping deadline looms

Time running out for Montrealers to chip pets January 1 is the deadline for Montrealers to get their cats and dogs microchipped, and people are scrambling to meet that deadline

Montreal — Visits to veterinarians have surged as the deadline to microchip pets looms.

At the Sherwood Park Animal Hospital in Beaconsfield, visits have recently doubled, according to veterinary technician Jacinthe Shurtleff.

"We also have an increase in [pet owners] that are coming in to have surgery anyway [and] they're opting to do the microchipping at the same time," she said.

All Montreal pets will have to be microchipped as of Jan. 1, 2020.

The microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is injected beneath the animal's skin. It carries a unique code that can be scanned to identify the pet.

According to the Association des médecins vétérinaires du Québec (AMVQ), microchipping costs about $70 in a veterinary clinic. It is $45 at the Montreal SPCA, and the price is generally even lower when municipalities organize microchip clinics.

Pets over the age of 6 months will have to be microchipped under the city's new bylaw, which comes into effect in the new year.

Not obeying the new bylaw could result in a $600 fine for a first offence, $1,200 for a second offence and up to $2,000 for a third.

The SPCA has been microchipping its animals before they're adopted for more than a decade. Mandatory microchipping will help owners find lost animals, the organization said.

"This is fantastic," said SPCA spokesperson Anita Kapuscinska. "If an animal ends up in a shelter or vet clinic, we'll be able to scan the animal, and by scanning the animal, we'll be able to trace the information of the family and be able to contact them."