Microchipping is no longer optional in the Las Vegas valley, but it also doesn’t have to cost you much, and in some cases it costs nothing at all.

As of August 4, 2025, every dog and cat over four months of age in Clark County must be implanted with a microchip under county code, and the City of Las Vegas has required the same since August 1, 2024.

The cheapest route right now is the county’s own program.

Clark County Animal Protection Services has committed $150,000 to the effort, purchased 10,000 microchips, and partnered with Hearts Alive Village, Heaven Can Wait, and the Nevada SPCA to provide microchips for $5 to unincorporated Clark County residents.

How to Get the $5 County Microchip

The $5 chips are available through the county’s three partner organizations, so contact Hearts Alive Village, Heaven Can Wait Animal Society, or the Nevada SPCA to schedule.

The deal applies to residents of unincorporated Clark County, which covers most of the valley including Paradise, Spring Valley, Enterprise, and Sunrise Manor.

Details and updates are posted on the Clark County microchip page, and there’s a satisfying funding story behind it: the county has collected nearly $154,000 in fines from illegal breeders since February 2025, and revenue from those violations helps subsidize microchipping and spay and neuter services.

The backyard breeders are paying for your chip.

Free Microchip Events Around the Valley

Completely free chips show up regularly at community events, you just have to catch them.

County commissioners host periodic free microchip events, like the one Commissioner April Becker held on North Durango Drive, offering residents a no-cost way to meet the requirement.

Local rescues run them too. PAWsitive Difference has hosted free microchipping alongside low-cost vaccines at the PetSmart on South Decatur Boulevard, with services provided while supplies last.

The Animal Foundation has also periodically given away chips, including a promotion offering more than 500 free microchips through its low-cost clinic and a single-day event that chipped 450 pets for free.

These events are announced with short notice, so watch the Clark County events calendar and the events listings on Dog Friendly Las Vegas.

Low-Cost Clinics if You Miss the Deals

If you want it done this week without waiting for an event, two walk-in-friendly clinics keep it affordable.

The Animal Foundation’s Low-Cost Vet Clinic offers cat and dog microchipping for $35 at 655 N Mojave Rd, and it’s worth knowing that roughly 1 in 3 pets will become lost at some point, and without identification, 82 percent never return home.

The Las Vegas Spay & Neuter Center runs a walk-in vaccine clinic open every day offering low-cost microchips, with no office visit or exam fee.

For comparison, microchipping at a private vet in Las Vegas typically runs $30 to $75, so even the paid alternatives beat a standard vet visit once you add the exam fee.

What the Law Actually Requires

The rule is simple: if your dog or cat is over four months old and lives anywhere in Clark County, it needs a chip.

The chip itself is the size of a grain of rice, injected between the shoulder blades in seconds, with no anesthetic and no recovery time, and it stores an ID number, not a GPS tracker.

The reason for the mandate is practical. Animal control officers carry scanners and can identify a registered lost pet on the spot, returning it home without a shelter stay, which matters in a county where the shelter runs chronically over capacity.

Here’s the step most people skip: a microchip is worthless until you register it.

After implantation, register the chip number with your current phone number and address, and update it every time you move, since an unregistered chip scans as a dead end.

If your pet was chipped years ago, take 30 seconds today and look up the number on the AAHA universal pet microchip lookup to confirm your contact info is current, because the chip only works if it leads back to you.