Are your pets chipped? If not, why not?
By Gina Spadafori
October 22, 2009
The Winn Feline Foundation — a nifty group that funds research into feline health issues — reports that their campaign to get more cats chipped resulted in almost 60,000 cats getting potentially lifesaving permanent ID over the summer.
My question: Why would anyone NOT chip a pet?
Really, I want to know.
Is it the expense?
Is it not offered, or not offered in a convenient way where you live?
Are you confused and concerned about different chips/chip readers, companies and registries?
Do you have health concerns?
Are you afraid of the big needle?
Is your pet too hard to handle to get chipped?
Are you afraid chipping is the sign on the End Times, the proverbial Mark of the Beast? Do you think chipping pets is the prelude to chipping people by government decree? (Yes, these concerns are out there. Use Teh Googles and see the freaks.)
Or is it something else?
What? I’m really curious, and don’t know why people choose not to– or neglect to — get their pets equipped with a microchip.
All mine are chipped, by the way. The chip registries are a serious pain, in my view, in that most don’t offer lifetime enrollment. I’m sorry, but I have difficulty rounding up tax information once a year. Paying to re-up my pets’ chip registry annually just doesn’t get done. Yes, I am disorganized. Work with me, peoples!
That’s why I went with a registry that DOES offer a lifetime enrollment. One payment, for life. The rest of you are not providing good customer service, and not helping pets.
My cats aren’t chipped because (1) they’re indoor only, (2) I’m terrified that the process will hurt them, and (3) one of my cats is a beast when he’s at the vet and I just don’t think they could manage him long enough to get the process finished, which will mean more stress on him (and me).
I know I should do it, what if they get out? it’s a small, quick process, blah blah blah. I’ve heard it all, but when I think about it, I just can’t bring myself to go through with it.
When I get a dog, I’ll have him/her chipped and maybe that’ll ease my fear.
Comment by Kimberly Gauthier — October 22, 2009 @ 9:09 am
I was initially concerned about chip migration, injection site sarcomas, and the cluster-you-know-what of the turf wars between registries and scanners. That’s why I was not an early adopter of this technology.
I imagine I’ll do it on any new dogs or cats I get, now that there’s a great deal more research on the safety and the registry/scanner mess has calmed down so much (although not quite where I’d want to be yet). I still believe there are problems with migration and I’m not sure they are 100 percent safe, but I don’t need things to be “100 percent safe,” simply to be more benefit than risk, which I believe microchips are.
Comment by Christie Keith — October 22, 2009 @ 9:09 am
All of my dogs and cats are chipped and yes, Gina, I agree - the yearly renewals are a pain.
I even have my leopard tortoise, Pearl, chipped. A thief stole all nine tortoises belonging to a friend of mine and that scared me, especially when a police officer told her, “Well, even if we find the tortoises, how can you identify them so we know they are yours?” With a chip, I can always prove without a shadow of a doubt that Pearl is my tortoise.
Comment by Liz Palika — October 22, 2009 @ 9:47 am
HomeAgain does still offer lifetime registration, if you call them up and are willing to be a little bit persistent. I bet AVID does too, although I admit I would only be willing to risk a small bet if somebody wanted to take me up on that.
Comment by Lis — October 22, 2009 @ 9:50 am
All of mine are chipped. A friend was hesitant to chip his “because of the cancer risk”. He thought the chip was continuously sending out a low power signal.
As for the HomeAgain coverage policy, I think they make it difficult to understand what you get for life, and what you get for the yearly “re-up”. I just got a renewal email. The first paragraph reads:
Your HomeAgain membership has expired, and your pet is no longer protected by the complete HomeAgain program. An annual HomeAgain membership costs just $14.99 a year and provides travel assistance when your lost pet is found far from home. And, the medical insurance policy also covers treatment for injuries your cat or dog suffers while lost. Renew today and experience the peace of mind of knowing your pet is protected by all of HomeAgain’s pet recovery and wellness benefits.
Then down quite a bit further in the email, behind a lot of informaiton that folks might not read past (I didn’t the first time, but remembered previous discussions here, so I kept on looking) it reads:
HomeAgain provides comprehensive pet recovery services that begin with your microchip. With your pet’s microchip, you’ll have basic* pet recovery service for the lifetime of your pet. When your lost pet is taken to an animal shelter or veterinary clinic, they will scan the microchip to read its unique code. This code is stored in HomeAgain’s National Pet Recovery Database and is directly linked to your contact information. We’ll call you whenever and wherever your pet is scanned. But, with your annual membership, you’ll get even more. For just $14.99 a year, you’ll also get these comprehensive benefits:
(and goes on to list all the stuff your $14.99 a year gets you)
The “basic* pet recovery service” is footnoted WAY at the bottom of the email where it reads:
Basic service: Your pet’s microchip numbers and your contact information will remain in the HomeAgain Recovery Database forever. You can update your contact information at http://www.HomeAgain.com at any time.
So the information is all there. But with the quick casual kind of read I’m sure most people give it, you could easily overlook that and think you needed to pay another $14.99 a year to keep your animal in the database.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 22, 2009 @ 10:07 am
Huh! Well, I guess that’s why it pays to read the small print.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — October 22, 2009 @ 10:31 am
“chip migration, injection site sarcomas, and the cluster-you-know-what of the turf wars between registries and scanners”
My fears exactly. But I did it anyway, because my dogs are door bolters, rescues, fosters, horrid at recall…
My (first) two dogs have AVID chips, their service is crap, and not all scanners recognize them… this I found out AFTER chipping had occurred.
My most recent adoptee was microchipped with a 24PetWatch, and I have to say their costumer service was pretty freaking awesome. Called, a person answered, info change, no additional cost, she’s live and identifiable. http://www.24petwatch.com/
Comment by Jen — October 22, 2009 @ 10:32 am
I’m worried RRID chips will make my dogs’ skulls pick up ambient radio signals and they’ll keep me up all night playing salsa music.
Comment by Janeen — October 22, 2009 @ 10:45 am
My two shelter dogs came chipped. My BC pup is not yet chipped because he’s a freaking wuss and it’s a big needle and I don’t want him to have a bad experience at the vet. He’ll be chipped when he’s neutered.
In PA a microchip can count as permanent identification for a lifetime dog license.
Comment by katie — October 22, 2009 @ 10:45 am
I got all 3 of my cats chipped last year when one of the shelters I sometimes volunteer with had a drive where you could get your pets chipped for a very reasonable fee and they got some money for it too. They are with 24PetWatch as well and they have never even tried to ask me for more money. They just send me yearly reminders to make sure the information is up to date. The website where you can update the info is very well done and easy to use.
I wrote mainly to say if your fear of the needles is what is stopping you, please don’t let it. Even my most finicky cat that screams bloody murder when we are cutting her claws and so obviously not hurting her didn’t even seem to notice the insertion. Yes, I deliberately chose not to say injection. The tool they use doesn’t even look like a traditional needle and seems to be quite pain free. None of my kitties even seemed to be sore at the injection site afterwards. It took me until last year to do it mainly because I was worried about not all places being able to read the chip along with the fact that they were indoor cats in a condo bldg and so had a LONG way to go before getting outside. Whatever your reason, get off your duff and get your pets microchipped :)
Comment by Suzanne — October 22, 2009 @ 11:00 am
I’m worried RRID chips will make my dogs’ skulls pick up ambient radio signals and they’ll keep me up all night playing salsa music.
Comment by Janeen — October 22, 2009
:::snort::::
Comment by Gina Spadafori — October 22, 2009 @ 11:17 am
We never chipped our dog because of the initial cost, plus we are in a very rural area. I’m pretty sure the cost has gone down significantly but it just seems a little unnecessary. I’m sure the wife would love to have it done though.
Lets just hope this doesn’t jump to humans!
Comment by scotty — October 22, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
Haven’t chipped my pets (two cats, and a darling pibble) yet because I’m pretty concerned about the whole manufacturer/scanner disconnect. I’d rather wait until I can be more sure that whatever chip goes into my pets will be able to be read easily by whoever finds them.
On that note, it is something that I would love to do, if I trusted the companies more.
Comment by Jean — October 22, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
“This code is stored in HomeAgain’s National Pet Recovery Database and is directly linked to your contact information. We’ll call you whenever and wherever your pet is scanned.”
Uh, that’s not exactly true. Just because someone scans your pet, the scanner doesn’t call HomeAgain and let them know so that they then call the owner. First, the person doing the scanning has to identify that it’s a HomeAgain chip (in case their reader reads more than 1 kind), then that person has to call HomeAgain - and that’s where the process breaks down so often. Even when a client comes in and says they’ve found a cat and are keeping them, in the majority of cases I’ve seen, it’s a toss up as to whether they or the vet will even bring up the idea of scanning for a chip, and it almost never gets done. On the 2 occasions I saw it happen, both times the new owner said, “Oh, well, I’m not looking for an owner because …” and the vet certainly wasn’t going to make waves, so no one was informed.
In 2 shelters near me, I’ve heard that they don’t even scan dogs, let alone cats, because “we can’t find the scanner,” “someone lost it,” “we don’t have time,” “who would we call,” and “they shouldn’t have let their dog out without tags.”
The whole recovery end is even more of a disaster than the implanting/resistering process, and I haven’t bothered because I don’t think it’ll help any more than the tattoos and collar/tags my greys and the collar/tags my mutts have.
Comment by KateH — October 22, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
“I’m worried RRID chips will make my dogs’ skulls pick up ambient radio signals and they’ll keep me up all night playing salsa music.”
Janeen, this is a valid concern. It is the actual reason for aluminum foil. You may have to glue it to their heads, but it will block out radio signals and alien mind control.
Recently, a tracking survey was performed involving microchips. Turns out microchips increase redemption rates by a lot - 20 times more in cats, 2.5 times more in dogs. Seems worth the investment (yearly renewal headaches aside): http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....185154.htm
Comment by Rinalia — October 22, 2009 @ 1:45 pm
My concern is that whichever brand of chip I get won’t be a brand that is readable by the shelter or vet which my animal ends up at. This is actually a pretty legitimate concern — our local shelter only has one scanner, and supposedly it only scans one brand of chip. But every volunteer gives you a different answer when you call and ask what kind of chip to get, and the shelter won’t microchip any animal that wasn’t either adopted through them or reclaimed as a stray from them. It’s seriously messed up. But our humane society is not very well staffed in my opinion — it’s all volunteers and you can never really be sure if the answer you were given is the right one, or if they were just blowing you off. I learned that trying to figure out which parts of town were under which pet laws before buying a house.
Comment by Erin S. — October 22, 2009 @ 2:24 pm
This is all very interesting information to me personally. I tend to be an “early adopter” — my dog Andy was the first in Sacramento to get a microchip (he was the “guinea pig” for a newspaper story I was writing on the introduction of chips to the area).
While I never liked the “chip wars” between companies, I still chipped my pets, because it added SOME degree of helpfulness in getting them back.
And, as Liz noted, it ALWAYS helped to prove a pet was yours.
My pets all have collars/tags, too, by the way. And all of McKenzie’s puppies went out of here with chips, you better believe.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — October 22, 2009 @ 2:36 pm
I’m slightly concerned about sarcoma with the cats. They’re indoor only, so they are low risk for getting lost (yes, I realize anything *could* could happen). The biggest reason I haven’t had them chipped is that, if they did get lost, I have absolutely no faith that they would ever be scanned for a chip.
I’ve *never* had a vet volunteer to scan a pet, even a new-to-them pet. I find that shocking, as I used to assume all new pets were scanned as a matter of course. When I’ve found animals and taken them to a vet to be scanned, the vets and/or techs have almost without exception acted surprised.
That said, I *was* a fairly early adopter. My dog was chipped 10 years ago, and I keep her info up-to-date with AKC-CAR (they offer lifetime enrollment for *any* brand of chip). Again, though, should she ever become lost, I think her tags are more likely to be helpful than her chip.
Comment by Shelly — October 22, 2009 @ 2:39 pm
A chip definitely won’t help return any animal that isn’t chipped.
No, it’s not a guarantee, and any number of things included shelter worker pigheadedness (if your pet is lost, you are a bad owner and don’t deserve to get her back), could result in a failure of the chip to reunite you and your pet. But it increases your chances; it doesn’t in any way lower your chances.
And as others have said, if you do find your pet, it’s proof of ownership.
Comment by Lis — October 22, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
Mine are all chipped, and I believe the cats were all chipped, too. My vet said we didn’t need to register them, though, because his office would be contacted if our pets were found and they, in turn, would contact us. They scanned Harper’s chip when I brought her in for her first visit to make sure they had the information in her file.
Comment by Kim Thornton — October 22, 2009 @ 3:05 pm
Our dogs’ tags have our last name on them and three or four phone numbers: home, one or two cell phones, and the vet’s number, plus Harper has her AKC CAR tag. Nah, I’m not paranoid or anything.
Comment by Kim Thornton — October 22, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
Thanks Rinalia! I found specialized tin foil hats for pets on ebay. I’ll order mine today ‘cause mine are already chipped - and the quadrophonic salsa keeps me up dancing all night.
I’m a belt, suspenders and elastic waist kind of person so mine are chipped, wear tags and have collars embroidered with my business name and phone number on them.
… when we dance, Audie’s tags play a nice samba rhythm to go with the RFID music
Comment by Janeen — October 22, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
Why?
Because I’ve heard this mentioned in more than a few NWO conspiracy theories!
Comment by retrieverman — October 22, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
Pennsylvania’s law allowing a dog’s microchip to be their lifetime license number helped tip the scale to getting Pepper chipped — I don’t feel good about the scanner wars and would have probably waited longer to pick a chip (since there are the competing company/scans, etc), but being able to have Pepper chipped, registered and never having to think about her dog liscense again was a bit incentive to just get it done.
Once I did Pepper, I went ahead and did Lindsey (cat) not so much because I think the chip will be found, but because there are so many friendly male grey tabbies in the world and it would prove that THIS one was Lindsey.
The scanner wars still bother me a lot because they seem to be at the pet owners’ expensive. Hate being exploited just because I’m a “consumer.”
Comment by Dorene — October 22, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
Aren’t the scanner wars over? I thought the scanners could read or at least idenitfy a pet was chipped. I chipped my dog with the chip the the area shelters were using. HomeAgain. None were using Avid, but a few rescues and vets were. One vet, a block from the shelter where I got Dot, had an avid scanner, so the shelter could scan pets there if they couldn’t read a chip. I think they (shelter) ended up with a Uni scanner though. It’s been a few years and my memory is failing :)
In areas working towards no-kill, it’s a real good idea to chip because they are actively scanning. Some are scanning twice, on intake and again before euth just incase a chip was missed. Most, if not all, are aware of migration and know to do more of a body scan.
I recently recieved an email from Home Again titled:
Attention: Complimentary HomeAgain Membership Upgrade
Intro says:
As a dog owner and HomeAgain member, you know that peace of mind is priceless. While your pet’s microchip information is already stored in the HomeAgain National Pet Recovery Database, you’re missing out on HomeAgain’s comprehensive suite of wellness benefits and proactive search tools. Get a complimentary upgrade to HomeAgain’s premium membership with a $15 purchase from our partner, FetchDog.com. Try it free for a year! Upgrade now >>
Above that in large bold type was Dot’s name and number. I guess because I never did the upgraded membership, there wasn’t any confusion. I’d be lousy at remembering to get my ‘dues’ in every year!
Felines here aren’t chipped as they are indoor only 4 floors up with 3 doors between them and the great outdoors. They will be chipped before moving though.
Comment by straybaby — October 22, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
None of my pets are chipped, as far as I know. They did not come from the shelter or rescue org with chips, and my vet won’t do it unless I ask, and I don’t know if they even offer it. The shelter I used to work for doesn’t have a reader. I just dont have a lot of faith in the chips doing what they’re there for.
My cats being indoor only isn’t a good excuse - if there was an emergency or they escaped, having a way to get them back would be important, as they aren’t wearing collars.
Comment by Georg — October 22, 2009 @ 10:01 pm
As we were going for chips for our cats, my vet suggested we do it while they were being neutered: “while it’s perfectly possible to do it while they’re awake if they’re going under anyway, why not do it then to avoid extra stress?”. So if you’re planning to get your pet neutered, it’s a good time to ask. Ours are indoor cats but doors open and cats can suddenly take it into their heads to bolt… (besides, what if there were an emergency and we deliberately let them out?).
I work for a UK dog charity which chips every single dog that’s adopted out and runs low-cost chipping schemes. We also run international training and have recently had a session on chips and explaining the importance of scanning properly. A full scan should take several minutes as the reader needs to be very close up to register (that would get around any migration-related issues, too, as well as the fact that different countries tend to implant chips in slightly different locations).
Comment by Alex — October 23, 2009 @ 1:41 am
It makes me nuts that so many shelters do not scan incoming pets, whether out of laziness or some misguided attempt to “punish” the “irresponsible” owner who let their pet stray.
It’s just another example of what is so very wrong with the shelter industry. Isn’t the whole point of shelters to get pets home and into homes? So why work against yourself? Why not do such a simple thing as scanning a pet and trying to track an owner through a microchip? Isn’t that effort worth it when it does get a few of the pets home in short order?
Comment by katie — October 23, 2009 @ 4:17 am
I work at a shelter that accepts strays (just about 40% of our incoming population). We scan every animal upon incoming (barring dangerous animals), then again at their exam, and finally before they are chipped by us. I find it very sad that the microchipped stray cat is the exception, not the rule. Only about 5% of cats are ever recalaimed from our shelter- due to poor id (or lack thereof), the difficulty of identifying a cat that can look identical to a dozen other stray cats, and owner’s lack of knowledge on lost cat behavior.
And the biggest point is- 90% of our stray cats are indoor cats that got out and couldn’t find their way home. If even 1/2 of them had chips… i can’t even imagine how many broken hearts that would save. Chip your indoor only cats! And then keep the info UTD.
Speaking of registry, HomeAgain, AVID, and 24PetWatch will always have your registration on file, whether or not they try to charge an annual membership renewal (i’ve never called on a chip and been told that the owner didn’t re-enroll. That would be asinine). 24PetWatch doesn’t even charge for 1st time registration- transfer of info is free, and they will register any type of chip (the issue being that the scanner doesn’t tell you what company the chip is registered with). I know there are a lot of concerns regarding scanners, but most scanners will be able to detect the presence of a chip, if not actually be able to read the chip (the exception to this is the Banfield chip- avoid those. They are trying to make more money by having their own frequency and therefore their own scanners. With the reality being that most shelters can’t afford a special scanner just for their chips (not to mention the pain of scanning every animal 2x)they’re not helping any animal get home). But the big scanners- AVID and HomeAgain- should be able to read the frequency and chip# on most chips (AVID has a cheaper version that doesn’t, but a higher quality one that does). (i have more concrete facts and numbers on these, just not with me at home). And identifying the type of chip just takes a little practice. 10 digits starting with 4 and possibly alphanumeric? HomeAgain. 9 digits, numbers only? AVID. 9 digits, alphanumeric starting with 0? 24PetWatch. Anything else is either a Banfield chip (if you’re lucky enough to find it. Also, good luck ever transferring ownership on those too) or international. And if you don’t know what type of chip it is, call any chip company- they’ll tell you if it’s theirs, and if not, they’ll give you the phone number of the company it does belong to.
the #1 cause of death of dogs and cats in this nation is euthanasia at a shelter. Do your animal a favor and get them chipped. I know all of mine are.
Comment by Anne — October 23, 2009 @ 7:47 am
the #1 cause of death of dogs and cats in this nation is euthanasia at a shelter. Do your animal a favor and get them chipped. I know all of mine are.
This sounds like a convenient factoid. Substantiated numbers, please!
Comment by H. Houlahan — October 23, 2009 @ 8:57 am
AVID’s PetTrac has a one-time registration fee, and as far back as I have been chipping, always has.
My dogs are all chipped. The puppies I breed are all chipped and registered in both my name and the new owner’s name. My foster dogs are chipped before they leave me.
I now have my own account with AVID, buy the chips directly, and have my vet implant them. That way, registration or not, the chip is always linked to me through my purchase history with AVID.
This summer I spent over three weeks with chip scanners in my pocket, scanned dogs scores of times a day. Some had multiple chips, some had migrated chips, some had chips that didn’t want to read — always the dogs who were most freaked out by the handling and scanning, natch. I am the queen of chip scanning now!
FWIW, the small rectangular red AVID brand scanner worked great. The weird big white one with the ring at the top that looks like some alien race’s weapon from an old Star Trek episode is crap, and also scares the bejimmies out of the shy dogs.
Also, all my dogs have tinfoil SAR vests. They shake off the hats, ‘cuz they like the salsa music.
Comment by H. Houlahan — October 23, 2009 @ 9:06 am
Heather, did you get any practical sense of which kind of chip was most likely to have migrated?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 23, 2009 @ 9:17 am
My newer dog came to us chipped, and I intend to chip the other one soon. She has a HomeAgain chip, so I’ll get the same brand for him to keep it consistent.
I keep reminding myself to coordinate schedules with my husband to see who can take the dog in… Thanks for the push, I’m going to do it now.
Comment by Smaki — October 23, 2009 @ 9:25 am
Heather, did you get any practical sense of which kind of chip was most likely to have migrated?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 23, 2009 @ 9:17 am
They were all AVID chips, so no real grounds for comparison.
The animals with double chips were older animals who had been chipped by their abuser/former owner a few years before. These read as encrypted AVID chips by the AVID reader, or in some cases, the number just read normally — causing no end of kerfluffle for record-keeping with so many animals to keep track of. Some of those seemed to have migrated. Newer chips have a roughened surface texture to reduce migration, and most people seem to agree that this is working a lot better than the old smooth chips.
Most of the dogs with single migrated chips were the shyest and most flight-prone. So maybe chip migration is related to cortisol levels, adrenaline surges, or the habit of dashing back and forth in a 12 x 12 stall for half the day.
Comment by H. Houlahan — October 23, 2009 @ 10:36 am
H. Houlahan- i feel like i got that factoid from Nathan Winograd a few years ago. I’ll see if i can dig it up somewhere to substantiate for you next time i’m at work :-)
Comment by Anne — October 23, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
Also, as far as migration, we found that back when we implanted AVID we had some migration issues, especially when the chip was just implanted in the scruff and not muscle tissue (which is a little more painful and therefore more difficult to do). Haven’t noticed as much migrating issues since we’ve switched to 24PetWatch, now that i think about it…
Comment by Anne — October 23, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
I volunteer for a rescue group. She chips everything usually. My vet, Animal Control, and the rescue group use different scanners and different chips, but they ALL read everything, and they all use their scanners. A LOT!
Many adopters don’t register the chips! so our rescue group went to a prepaid registration and did it for them. But then if they return the pet the next adopter has to pay to re-register the chip. Oh well.
We get calls all the time for chips we’ve installed, and we’ve called Animal Control lots for chips they’ve installed. Doesn’t always get the animal back to the person who wants them, but it’s usually because that person DOESN’T want them!
As for why not to chip…Animal Control did install a chip between the vertebrae on a small dog a few years ago. That wasn’t so good. I won’t install them because I don’t do needles. And once I found a chip coming out on one of my active foster dogs. I saved it in a ziploc bag and had my vet reinstall it.
Installers need to realize they are providing a lifetime service and they need to do it right! Poorly installed chips are an irritant to pets and owners FOREVER.
I can still feel the little rice-like bump on my 13 year old lead dog. I’ve never needed or used the chip, but it’s a comfort to me to know it’s there. My yearling basset got her (my) money’s worth out of her microchip ten times over! And she died before she was two.
Comment by LynnO — October 23, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
It is so good to see shelter/rescue folks here whose organizations try to find the animals’ owners. I have taken many strays to local shelters and the very first thing they do is scan them.
Comment by Mary Mary — October 23, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
I don’t and won’t chip for this reason. If you get a sliver. Your body tries to push it out or absorb it. The same thing happens with chips. The body tries to get rid of them.
Just out of interest. If you have children are they chipped? It is legal and can be done. Mexico’s elite are doing it.
Comment by Ken — October 24, 2009 @ 5:06 am
Ken, the people who make microchips know about the body’s rejection mechanisms. This is why they utilize biocompatible materials in their manufacture specifically to address this problem. There is nothing “biocompatible” about a splinter however. So your analogy is inaccurate.
Beyond that, what does a discussion about chipping pets - which are property - have to do with chipping children, which are most definitely NOT property? And what does the practices of “Mexico’s elite” have to do with ANY facet of a discussion on chipping pets?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 24, 2009 @ 7:17 am
If I had a child, I would probably be pretty interested in some sort of tracking device, especially since in the past few days alone two grade school girls in different states were snatched and killed while walking near their homes. Those are just the ones that made the news. Would I have something implanted in my kids’ bodies? I don’t know. My brother has a metal pin in his arm and my mom has a long metal pin in her hip. No harm done that I can see. If I had a dog or cat they would be chipped. The shelters in my city chip rabbits too. One thing that helps with is tracking down the moron owners when they dump them in a field a few years later.
But the OTHER Pat is right, bringing kids into this discussion is not constructive.
Comment by Mary Mary — October 24, 2009 @ 8:03 am
Folks also need to understand that microchips are NOT tracking devices. A tracking device would need to send a signal which could be detectable from long distances (think GPS). Chips do not broadcast any kind of signal. They can only be read when the detector is in VERY close physical proximity to them. It’s not the same thing as a “tracking device” at all.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 24, 2009 @ 8:30 am
The OTHER Pat — you are right. I should have clarified that. I did indeed mean tracking device.
Comment by Mary Mary — October 24, 2009 @ 8:55 am
The year before microchips became available, a remodeler accidentally let one of our indoor cats out, and we never saw him again. He didn’t wear a collar or tags because he was an indoor-only cat. All of our pets have been chipped since they became available. “Indoor cats” are not immune to being lost. Sadly, we learned the hard way.
If you love your pets, you’ll chip them. (And keep the contact info current.)
Comment by Becky — October 25, 2009 @ 12:07 am