Microchip Identification for Pets by Malcolm Riordan

Microchipping of pets has been available for about 25 years now, yet there is still a lack of awareness and some misunderstandings out there in the pet owning population. I'd like to review the basics, and then bring out some interesting facts.

Jackson

The goal of having your dog or cat microchipped is most commonly to identify them as belonging to you should they get lost or stolen. Of course, wearing a collar all the time and keeping the information on the tags current is still the obvious first line of protection. But those collars can come off, especially if your pet gets out on adventure. The use of microchip ID for pets has led to many happy success stories that simply were not previously possible. Let's go thru an example of the whole process as a way to understand how it all works.

Getting Started - You can have your pet microchipped at any veterinary clinic, as well as at any county animal shelter or private humane society. The microchip itself is the size and shape of a grain of rice. It is injected just as a vaccine is, under the skin layers, typically between the shoulder blades. Despite the use of a fairly large needle, most medium and large dogs, as well as most cats do not object or even seem to notice! Now the smaller dogs, some, but not all, will notice and object. It's all over so quickly that their objections are short lived . . . put them back down on the floor and they're good to go. The hard part is over and it was nothing! Now what you have to do is register your name, address, and phone numbers with the microchip company. This can be done by mail, phone, or online. If you move or change phone service, you must update that information. That's it.

Vic

Lost Dog! - Okay, your kid left the gate ajar and the family dog took off on a self-guided safari. When somebody recognizes – typically it's so obvious – that a wayward dog has entered the scene, the Good Samaritan in people always seems to rise to the occasion. If they bring your lost dog to any veterinary clinic, county animal shelter, or private humane society . . . your dog will be scanned over the back with a handheld device that emits radio waves. The energy returns back to the scanner as a unique code that is displayed on its screen. The vet office or shelter employee calls the registry with this unique code. Now you can be contacted and the joyous moment of reunion is arranged.

About the Microchip and Its Uses - The microchip itself is passive, inert, safe, and permanent. It has no battery. It was developed as just one of many applications for passive RFID technology (Radio Frequency IDentifcation). It does not provide GPS tracking or location of your pet. In fact, the handheld scanner must be passed within a couple inches of the chipped area to detect and read the chip. If invasion of privacy is your concern, you may register only a cell number or only an email address as the way to contact you. Microchipping is gaining usage around the world. It has become mandatory in Japan, New Zealand, and in certain parts of Australia. It is required now for pets entering Hawaii, a rabies free island, to ensure that vaccination records and health certificates all match to the specific pet. In Europe, the standard location for implanting a microchip is under the skin on the left side of the neck. If a microchip is in place, this can assist when a pet's identity or ownership is in dispute.

Potential Problems - The single biggest failure scenario is when a pet owner neglects to keep the registry information current when they move or change phone service. In England 3.7 million pet microchip placements were studied; significant adverse reactions were on the order of one-in-a-million, typically a soft abscess at the injection site.

Ruger

Earlier chips had an occasional problem where the chip had migrated under the skin to an area outside of where veterinary or shelter staff would normally scan, causing a failure to detect it. The chips made in the last decade have markedly less tendency to migrate.

Other causes of failing to detect an implanted chip would be a faulty scanner or faulty scanning technique. Much progress has been made so that scanners are universally able to detect all chips from the different companies that produce them. Efforts are underway to link or network the registries of the various microchip companies so that one call does it all.

Unless you've had your dog or cat from birth, there is a chance that your pet has already been chipped; you just do not realize it. Thus we always scan for a previous chip before we inject one; it becomes problematic to have two chips in place – you'd have to register both.

Expense - The cost for having your pet microchipped? Lower than you might think, $20 - $60 is the ballpark. Note that some of the registries have a charge for initial registration or registry information changes. Be sure to ask, as that would add to the total cost.

A final item of interest is that locally, for years now, both Woods Humane Society and SLO County Animal Services microchip every dog and cat that they adopt out. As well, they provide microchipping to the public's pets at a nominal fee.