Possible Dumb Q About Microchip
 

So, Rizzo and Fatso have their microchips, and their both registered through Petlink. All is good on that end.

I'm probably leaving Europe for the USA around September/October, I've been reading that most shelters/vets offices have microchip scanners, but they are compatible for the US microchip's only? My pets have the 15 digit ISO standard microchip, which is perfect for Europe (and the rest of the world) but if somehow one of them gets picked up by a shelter, and scanned the scanner may not even read that they have a microchip at all.

So my question is, should I have a US AVID or HomeAgain microchip put in them when I get to the States to ensure they are returned to me if they do somehow get out and picked up? It won't be difficult to keep both chips info current, but just wondering if this is a good idea or if I should just pray that they get picked up and they think to scan them with a ISO compatible scanner? I'm just not all that sure how thorough shelters and vets are.

It wouldn't be cruel to have two microchips in them right? They're so small....:confused:
I don't know, I'll discuss this with my vet (who already think's I'm crazy) but just wondering what you ladies and gents think.

As it stands today, to be the safest, you'd double microchip your dog. There's no guarantee that a vet or shelter here in the states would have a scanner that would read your ISO chip.

IMO the USA should have effectively dealt with this issue years ago and changed to ISO chips. They probably will eventually. In the meantime, many travelers I know have two microchips in their pets.

I figured I would have to do that, guess I was just looking for support from others...why oh why does the US have to be difficult?

Guess I would have to do two also under the cicumstances. Seems awful to make a dog have to have 2 of them, doesn't it? You would think there could be a better way for our technologically advanced society which is world wide and our legal system to link hands on this and do something to avoid a double-chipping necessity. If we wait a while, maybe iPhone will have an app for it all!

My dogs are double chipped. They've never even noticed it.