Every day pets wander away from home and are lost while frantic pet parents do their best to find them. But without identification, recovering your pet could be very difficult. Today we'll learn about identification methods for your pets in this edition of Pet Pointers.

I love good old-fashioned metal medallions you can hear a mile away. ID tags are inexpensive and available at most hardware or pet supply store. Make sure to have your name and telephone number with area code engraved on the tags. Also, add their rabies tag and dog license to their collar. Most municipalities require your pet to have these tags on at all times.

Writing your information on the inside of their collar with a permanent marker is also one extra layer of protection in case their tags fall off.

These days most cats, dogs, rabbits and ferrets have microchips. The tiny chip is a bit larger than a grain of rice that is injected under your pet's skin much like a vaccine. This chip contains a unique number linked to your name or vets office. Most vets and animal shelters have scanners that read the number, the technician looks up the number, finds you, your pet comes home.

Don't forget to register your pet's microchip. Your vet will be able to guide you through the process. Tens of thousands of pets have been returned to their families because they were chipped while millions of others were euthanized because their families could not be found.

Remember a microchip is not a GPS tracking device! But there are GPS tracking collars available starting at around $200.