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    • 19 Jun, 2015

    National Microchipping Month: Jinks’ story

    When Jinks’ owner had to go into hospital, she asked a friend to look after him for a couple of weeks and didn’t think anything of it. However, when Kym went to collect him she was absolutely devastated to hear that Jinks had been lost. Her friend explained that someone had come to visit, left the front door open and Jinks had run away, following the visitor as they cycled away on their bicycle.

    Kym was incredibly distraught and confused as this was unlikely behaviour for Jinks – a very obedient and smart Staffy cross. He was microchipped so she immediately contacted The Mayhew, local dog wardens in the Brent, Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham areas, the police and Dog Lost, a website to help people find their missing pets. She endlessly searched the surrounding neighbourhoods in her local Notting Hill area, asked people if they’d seen him and even put up posters offering a reward. Knowing Jinks’ temperament, good nature and obedience, Kym couldn’t fathom why Jinks would have run away with the stranger and, once she started thinking about it, she began to suspect Jinks may have been the victim of a dog-napping.

    Determined to find her pet, Kym put her detective hat on and tried to find out who the cyclist was and luckily this worked… a few days later the cyclist got wind of her investigations and, thinking better of it, called Kym claiming he had ‘found’ Jinks. She suspected this wasn’t true but all she wanted was to get her lovely dog back so she asked the man to take Jinks to The Mayhew for safekeeping.

    Once at The Mayhew our Animal Welfare Officers scanned Jinks’ microchip and immediately began looking for his owner. Before Kym had a chance to call us to let us know what happened, we had already been able to trace her via the microchip database and contacted her. Kym was over the moon and rushed to The Mayhew as soon as she could. When they were reunited there was no doubt that she was the true owner – as soon as she walked in Jinks ran to her and jumped up to give her cuddles, he was so happy to see her his tail wouldn’t stop wagging!

    Now back at home where he belongs, Kym is so grateful that Jinks was microchipped. “Having your pet microchipped is so important – everyone should do it. Dog-napping and dog theft is rife at the moment but it makes it difficult to sell on the dog if they are chipped, I think that’s why the cyclist decided to give Jinks back,” she explains.

    June is National Microchipping Month and here at The Mayhew we strongly advise all pet owners to have their animal microchipped to significantly increase your chances of being reunited should the unthinkable happen and your pet becomes lost or is stolen. If Jinks hadn’t been chipped we wouldn’t have been able to trace him back to his family, where he belongs.

    Microchipping is cheap, harmless and takes seconds. To find out more and to book an appointment at our clinic, click here or call 020 8962 8017. During June we are also offering 10% off flea and worming treatment costs when you get your dog or cat microchipped with us.

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