As technology eliminates various paper trails from our lives, add to that list missing pet flyers posted desperately on trees, telephone poles and signposts in neighborhoods everywhere. Now for less than a $100 dog and cat owners can have a very small microchip (the size of a rice granule) implanted permanently beneath their pet's skin. The microchip acts as a transponder that when scanned sends a digital identifying number to a registry database linking Fido and Fluffy to their owners.

No, it doesn't hurt when it's inserted.

No, the animal cannot feel it after it's in.

And yes, it works.

This is just the tip of the technology iceberg's advance into veterinary medicine and the lives of pets and their owners.

"There are a lot of new technologies," said Dr. Christopher Baker, owner of Old Town Animal Hospital in Seabrook and Baker-Wells Animal Hospital in Hampton Falls, N.H. "They don't change our original goals, but they're safer and faster and give us a better way to do what we've been doing all along."

Beyond pet locating devices, advances enhancing the care Dr. Baker and his colleagues can provide include access to ultrasound equipment and anesthesia monitoring systems.

Ultrasound facilitates the quick and accurate diagnosis of diseases and obstructions. Previously veterinarians relied on manual palpation or X-rays and subsequent surgery to obtain definitive diagnoses. In the event surgery is not necessary, ultrasound spares an animal the trauma of an invasive procedure.

If surgery is necessary, the anesthesia procedure has been made safer thanks to the development of a small probe which, when placed on an animal's tongue or ear, provides an accurate and noninvasive measure of heart rate and rhythm, blood oxygen level, and respiratory rate.

Advances in veterinary medicine are driven by some of the same needs as human medicine, in particular the delivery of better care. However, there are challenges specific to veterinary medicine (squirmy patients who pull out stitches, tear out catheters and refuse to take medicine) that push veterinary research in unique directions. Sometimes these developments are so successful they are adopted by human medicine, such as a test for Lyme disease that offers results in five minutes and a hand-held glaucoma analyzer that quickly measures pressure in the eye without a patient having to hold still for too long.

Old Town Animal Hospital and Baker-Wells offer patients all of these options and more, as well as some non-technological specialties.

"We are open to all treatment modalities, typical western medicine as well as Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage therapy, and chiropractor services," said Dr. Baker.

First and foremost, providing the best care possible and maintaining great relationships with clients - both two- and four-legged - matters most to staff at both hospital locations. "We try to provide options that people are comfortable with," said Dr. Baker.

What makes people comfortable is knowing their pets are in the best hands possible (not to mention knowing where their pets are).

Technology is the tool by which these caregivers can achieve both those goals.