The microchip mess is better — but a collar and tag is still your pet’s best bet
By Gina Spadafori
January 13, 2009
With puppies planned here for spring — assuming McKenzie ever decides to cooperate by coming into season — the organizing is in full swing. All her health clearances (and prospective dad’s, too) are done. Flight schedules have been checked and re-checked for her trip to the Midwest to meet the dad. The waiting list for puppies is growing, the people screened for suitability and anxious to have a pup. (Four are already spoken for off the top by the “relatives” before we ever get to the waiting list.) My vet’s personal cell phone number has been checked and rechecked in case of birthing emergencies.
We’re still a long way from the step of microchipping puppies, but we’re already revisiting the microchip muddle of previous years, with incompatible chips and scanners.
Reputable breeders chip their puppies before placement, as yet another way to take responsibility of those animals for life. More than a few of my reputable breeder friends have been surprised (and delighted!) to be reunited with puppies they’d placed years ago because of a chip — pets mostly lost, but a couple turned in to shelters by buyers who didn’t fulfill their end of the contract by contacting the breeder if they couldn’t keep the pet. The chip got them out of the shelter and back to the breeder, who quickly reunited the animal with the owner (if the dog has been lost) or worked on a new forever home (often at the breeder’s) if the dog had been given up.
Turns out Pet Connection BFF Dr. Patty Khuly saved me a ton of work. Her post yesterday on The Great Scan Off looks at the chips in the market, the issues, the problems and what works:
Are your pets microchipped? My dogs are. But I’ll be honest and tell you that I’ve implanted ther chips with an expectation that their low-tech tags will speak louder than their hardware in a “lost and found” situation. The microchip is mere back-up. But in the event my dogs’ collars should somehow lose their way as well, I can always hope the microchip will help them get back home.
I rely on this technology along with millions of pet owners all over the world. But the vagaries of shelter and veterinary hospital management being what they are, I sometimes wonder whether my lost dogs would ever get treated to the business end of a microchip scanner (the device we use to “read” the chips).
To make matters worse, the application of any technology must factor in its technical fallibility. Nothing’s perfect, we rationally comprehend. But when it comes to the magic of TV, radio, computers and microchips, we too often assume the product is very nearly foolproof.
Not so in the real world when it comes to microchip identification for pets. Otherwise, why would we need a “scan-off”?
Go read. Next to fix: Companies that charge an outrageous annual fee to provide registration so your chipped pet can be reunited. You know who you are. One fee, reasonable, for life. Too much to ask?
What constitutes an “outrageous fee”? I’m not defending the chip companies, but if I recall correctly, the HomeAgain annual fee is $15.00 per chip per year. I don’t put that into the outrageous category. I think my initial fee to register the chip was $30 per chip. I would hate to see an additional $225 charged up front (15 years worth of registration fees). Higher entry costs would mean lower chip registration compliance…and then chips would then be useless.
The other side of an expensive fee for chip registration is that I’m not completely convinced that today’s chip companies will be around in 15 years. I wouldn’t want to pay a hefty fee for something that is a service that might not exist in 5 years.
I’ll be glad when there’s one chip standard, but until then, I see chips as insurance against Katrina-like disaster. I live in a hurricane-prone area, and though I would never leave my pets behind in an evacuation, a tree could fall through a window and cause an unanticipated escape. Some chipping is better than no chipping.
Comment by Feline — January 13, 2009 @ 8:04 am
Outrageous is a bit of an overstatement. (My sense of outrage is higher before caffeine!) But I find annual re-ups for six pets to be a pain.
I would prefer to see CHOICE: one-year, three-year or lifetime plans.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 13, 2009 @ 8:09 am
Gina: My HomeAgain (Schering-Plough) rep assures me that the one-time fee I paid years ago is good enough to keep my dogs in the database and that I don’t have to continue to pay on a yearly basis.
I’ll be calling him today to determine whether this policy has changed, as you and others have suggested is likely the case.
Stay tuned. bc, you know, I hates Avid…
Comment by Dr Patty Khuly — January 13, 2009 @ 8:41 am
I can’t resist mentioning this IMHO beyond the call of duty story about a dog rescued by Penny, who chairs the RSPCA branch next door to us in Norfolk: http://tinyurl.com/77yfy9
“A dedicated RSPCA worker made a 140-mile mercy dash to rescue a stray dog from being put down in Yorkshire - 11 years after she first found her a home in Norfolk.
Poppet the collie-cross was picked up before Christmas by Bradford District Council’s dog wardens, who traced the animal through her identity microchip to Penny Skate, homing co-ordinator at Eaubrink Kennels near King’s Lynn.”
Poppet now has a new home, and I understand the publicity helped Norfolk West to home several other dogs too.
Comment by Rosemary Rodd — January 13, 2009 @ 8:54 am
Hi Gina. The HomeAgain’s $15 annual fee is for an upgraded service. I just enrolled my cat into it because it comes with free access to the ASPCA’s Poison Control Hotline (usally $60 per call). It comes with other member bennefits, but the hotline access was the only thing I personally cared about. Regardless of chip brands, pet owners need to make sure to register their pet’s microchip and update it’s information everytime they change addresses or phone numbers.
Comment by Jason Merrihew — January 13, 2009 @ 9:24 am
I actually just blogged about two dogs who were brought home because of their chips - one SEVEN years after he’d been stolen.
http://bullmarketfrogs.com/blog/?p=1091
And of course, we have our own miracle return story, thanks to a chip. Ruby just passed away last fall, after a long life with friends of ours in Muskoka.
Comment by FrogDogz — January 13, 2009 @ 9:26 am
Every animal is micro-chipped automatically at our shelter before they go out the door and one of the first things staff does when an animal comes in is check for a microchip. They will also do it for a member of the public who is holding a stray dog or cat while they try to find the owner.
I can’t imagine not having any dog or cat we have not being microchipped. But the dog always has his collar and tags on when we go out or if we leave him at home, just in case.
Does anyone else deal with paranoid idiots who think that microchipping their animal will allow the gov’mint to track THEM? I have had one or two people bring that up to me at adoption events. Eye roll.
The best shelter story, however, is the elderly woman who got her beloved dog back after THREE years. “Our people contacted her people” and I guess there wasn’t a dry eye in the place when they were reunited.
Comment by Susan Fox — January 13, 2009 @ 10:34 am
Jason, thanks for the clarification. :)
I just want things to be easy … one Web site, all pets, one fee, one time. Options.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 13, 2009 @ 10:58 am
Ours are all chipped. One thing to keep in mind is that even if you pay a one time fee - it’s important to UPDATE information as needed. If you move or your phone number changes you need to get that information to the database. Vet clinics will often help you with this. Also, many chips allow for a second party to be listed. Make sure that their information also stays up to date. Its no good for your pet if they find it, scan it —- then can’t find YOU!
We also have personalized collars for our dogs that list my business name and phone number. Good PR for well-behaved pets about town and an extra, and very easy, way to get in touch with me if they’re found.
Comment by SmartDogs — January 13, 2009 @ 11:28 am
My dogs have those collars. I know there are multiple sources for these, but I like the ones from Orvis:
http://www.orvis.com/store/pro.....at_id=7018
The retrievers have collars that are identical and interchangable. They say “REWARD!” followed by my cell number with area code. The Sheltie’s is the same type, but smaller of course.
All the collars — including the cats’ breakaways — have slide-on Boomerang tags. These also say “Reward!” but have multiple phone numbers — cell, home, brother, neighbor Judy.
And everyone is chipped, besides. :)
Oh, and the yard is double-fenced (inner yard for the dogs fenced within the larger yard) and the cats are kept in. Ain’t takin’ no chances.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 13, 2009 @ 11:35 am
I agree it needs to be easier. It was a pain in the butt to find the proper paper work that had Slinky’s microchip information.
Once I found it, I created a contact for him in my cell phone. It has Slinky’s picture, microchip number, vet’s phone number, 24 hour care and the number to the ASPCA Poison Control.
Comment by Jason Merrihew — January 13, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
Our breeder microchipped our puppy the day we brought him home & scanned him with her scanner to show us the chip number. We had the chip checked on his first visit to the vet and all was ok. Since then he’s gotten a play mate. When we had her chipped we had Harley scanned for reassurance. No chip found. We took him back and they did another thorough check, still no chip. We love our dogs dearly and would be devastated if either of them were ever lost as they go on all vacations with us. They also wear tags on their collars with our cell phone numbers. It bothers me that the chip’s moved and to who knows where. Now the decision - rechip or not?
Comment by Jennifer Ratola — January 13, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
Jason, that is a great idea. Are you available for hire to organize my life?
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 13, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Jennifer,
Rechip. I’ll tell you why: Because if your pet was lost you would kick yourself forever.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 13, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
I’m getting a pup whose elderly ill owner can no longer care for him. Was going to have the chip removed and replaced with my information. What I’m reading here, however, do I understand correctly that the chip does not need to be removed but only the information needs to change?
Do I have to go to the vet who implanted the chip or can the pup go to my vet? On a happy note, he’ll be here in his forever home this Thursday.
Comment by VJ — January 13, 2009 @ 4:55 pm
With adoptions, I almost (almost!) feel that pre-adoption microchipping is even more important than pre-adoption spay/neuter. I do both with rescues but if I had to choose…I dunno. Maybe my serious love of the microchip stems from so many hurricanes.
Strays seem to find me so, these days I carry a scanner with me in my car at all times.
Comment by Joy — January 13, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
Brilliant, Jason! I’m going to do the same thing.
Comment by Susan Fox — January 13, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
VJ, if you have the chip information—the company and the number—you contact the company directly and file the change of ownership. They then contact the owner on record. If she responds and confirms the transfer, they make the change. Or if she doesn’t respond at all within some set period of time, they make the change. There’s a fee, of course, but you expect that with a business, and when I did it for my dog, it wasn’t outrageously high.
If she were to respond and say she wanted her dog back, of course, that could get interesting!
Updating the chip information is a little bit tedious, but less stressful on the dog than removing one chip and implanting another. Probably cheaper, too.
Comment by Lis — January 13, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
Wow. Thanks for the information Lis. This lady is mentally in no position to respond. She had a brain tumor that unfortunately has not gone well for her. Poor puppy is traumatized as is.
Comment by VJ — January 13, 2009 @ 7:55 pm
VJ, that’s very sad. I hope she will at least be able to know that her pup is getting a good new home.
If you can get the chip information from whoever is helping to rehome her dog, that would be great. If you can’t, though, your vet should be able most likely to identify the chip for you, and if it’s the brand used at that hospital, give you the number. If it’s an AVID chip and they’re a HomeAgain clinic, they may only be able to tell you it’s an AVID chip—but they most likely also know who in the area uses AVID chips and will have an AVID scanner.
So with a bit of patience, you should be able to get the chip info updated, and not have to put the dog through the removal of the old chip and implanting of the new one.
Comment by Lis — January 13, 2009 @ 8:23 pm
Thank you for your help Lis.
Comment by VJ — January 14, 2009 @ 4:05 am