I know lots of us have a furry friend that we love dearly - our pets really do become part of the family. It's important to make sure we're taking the same care to keep them safe as we would for any of our family members.

If your pet is registered and your details are up to date, you're giving your furry friend the very best chance of being safely returned to you if they get lost.

Our rangers out at the Port Macquarie Animal Hospital are seeing lots of stray, lost, and surrendered pets coming to stay at the shelter at the moment.

They're busy providing them with a nice, safe, and warm play to stay before they can either be returned home to their loving owners or to a new forever home.

The great thing is, our rangers can take the pet home straight away if it's microchipped and registered. But at the moment, only about 40 per cent of pets are sent back to their homes.

I'd hate to think if anything happened to Harvey, that he wouldn't be returned home. The registration fee is a once-only payment, and it covers your pet for its entire life.

That's a price I'm willing to pay for my forever friend. And the great thing is that the money collected goes straight back to the community by funding companion animal services, like the animal shelter, paying the rangers, maintaining dog parks, and supplying our community with doggy doo bags.

All pets legally must be registered in NSW, but the reason to register them really isn't about law, it's about love.

You can register your pet online at the pet registry or at your council.

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