Microchipping
 

I jsut got my new yorkie today and I was just wondering about microchipping. Does it hurt the dog? Can any vet do it? and does it actually help to find lost pets, basically is it worth the money to do? and is there any health risks to the dog to have this done?

HI,
I took Lacy to get microchipped yesterday...Our local animal shelter does it for free but they have to be 4 months old.
Now the needle seemed pretty big to me (like the ones they use to pierce belly buttons) and since Lacy is tiny (1.2 lbs) she yelped pretty loud, but was just fine right after and no soreness...They told me that if she gets lost, or is stolen and is taken to a vet for a check up...most vets ( but not all) will take the pups into the back for a weight check and scan them and if the numbers dont match to the owner they will contact you...so in the end I guess it is worth the risk....or I should say pain!

Stacey and Lacy:animal36

All my puppies are microchipped at 8 weeks old .

I had Rusty microchipped. Yes, the needle seemed big & he also yelped but was ok right after. When I had Rusty's done it was at his first shot visit (with me)at 12 weeks ours was priced as part of the puppy package and that part was only $25. I feel for "the price" DEFINATELY worth it. I agree with Monday... having a way to prove it is your baby, since they change so much to from baby to adult, at least Rusty is. :rolleyes:

If you're afraid of whether or not it'll hurt, you can do it when you get the dog spayed/neutered. We did it while Miko was under anesthesia having a surgery. There's really no need in waiting though if you want to get it done now. As others have said, it's just painful for the moment, and then they seem to be okay.

I had mine chipped when they were spay and neutered. I think it is worth it because if someone had your dog that is one way you could prove it is yours

Do you use Banfield? There was some sort of controversy going on before about the type of microchip they use because it has to be scanned on a different frequency, and not all shelters use that type of scanner. I'm not sure, maybe someone else has more info on that??

We had Tucker microchipped with Home Again at his first Vet appt with us, he was 12 1/2 weeks old. It did hurt him, but immediately after it was over, he was fine. We paid $38 to the vet for the implantation and chip, then $10 activation and $29.99 annual fee to Home Again. I think it is well worth the peace of mind knowing that I can prove he is MINE if something should happen.

Also, if you are interested in microchipping, your vet should have a pamphlet/booklet about it. The one I received explains their services and other helpful info.

Missy

The first microchip available was the AVID chip i believe that that is the scanner that most shelters have. Now there is also the home again chip, and scanner. The home again scanner will not read the avid chip numbers however it will tell you that there is an avid chip in the dog, then the vet/shelter will know about it and they will find the avid scanner to use. The avid scanner also will not read the home again chips but it will tell you something is there. I believe there is a scanner out there that will read both chips but its not regularly used.

I think its a good idea to have your puppy chipped now adays with all the dogs being stolen. shelters and vet's offices do scan them, or at least the vets i work with scan them, when people come in saying they found this dog and are going to keep it..

I'm not sure about the Home Again scanners, but the Avid scanners can read other chips that use the same frequency. It doesn't tell you who it's from unless it's an Avid chip, but it can read the number.

The other day I used an Avid scanner on both my dogs.... Charlie has a Home Again chip and Lilly has one from Avid.... The Avid scanner read Lilly's chip and told me it was from Avid. Then I scanned Charlie (with his Home Again chip) and it did read the number, but it couldn't tell me it was from Home Again.

I might take them into another vet that uses the Home Again scanners and have both of them scanned just to see what that one can read...

i didn't know that about the avid scanner. i figured it was like the home again scanner. Those i know won't read the avid chip number, but they will tell you it is an avid chip.

Now I'm looking at the Avid website and it looks like they have two different scanners. One that can only read Avid and one that can read others... So I guess we're both right! It just depends which Avid scanner the clinic/shelter has.

It's silly.... I wish the companies would just agree and come up with a universal system.

yeah that's basically it. As long as the animal is chipped the scanner will tell you. it may not read the number or tell you which chip it is, but whoever is doing the scanning will be notified that the animal they are scanning is owned by someone. They can take the number they get off the scanner and check it with both avid and home again to find the person it belongs to.

So I'm a little confused. If somebody else has my dog, takes it to the vet, the vet can/will scan the dog if it has a chip (is this done routinely??) and it will come up with my name, therefore the vet will know this is not this other persons dog??


Also, what do you guys feel about the possible cancer risk??

I am contimplating having my dogs chipped, but I am on the fence right now.

My vet said the same thing.....she didn't recommend it to us.

there is no harm in getting your dog chipped.

when your dog is scanned a number will appear on the screen. UNLESS your dog has an avid chip and is being scanned with a home again scanner. In that instance, the screen will say "avid chip" or something like that. This will alert the vet to get an avid scanner and scan the dog with that on so they will get a number. The number that appears is the ID number of the microchip that was assigned to your dog upon you mailing in the paperwork. SO, a number appears, your vet takes that number and calls the AVID hotline and give them the number. If it is an avid chip, the AVID company will be able to get the name and address of the person who owned the dog at the time of chipping (this information can be changed for a fee if a new owner is given the dog by the old owner. For instance, my sister had her cat microchipped and mailed in her information and teh cats information to AVID so that is what was associated with the ID number. a few years later my sister moved to austrailia and left the cat with me. I then contacted AVID, gave then the ID number of the chip(i had it on hand with the other paperwork my sister gave me from AVID) and told them that my sister had moved and i was the new owner. i had to fax in a new information sheet and pay a fee for this information to be changed). If the AVID company cannot located the ID number, then the chip is most likely a Home Again chip. So the vet would call the home again hot line and give them the number and the company would be able to tell them the owners name and address.

either way, you will come up with a name and address of the owner of the dog if they are microchipped so there is no reason not to do it. Each scanner will be able to tell you that the dog is microchipped, however the homeagain scanner will only tell you that it is an AVID chip (which can then be read by an avid scanner and the owner can still be found).

The controversy lies with the companies. AVID was the first company to come up with this chip. They were making a hell of a profit with the microchip so other companies wanted in on the action. Out came the Home Again chip and the 'universal scanner'. They soon found out that AVID encrypted their chips numbers so they can only be read by AVID scanners, the best the HomeAgain scanner can do is say its an avid chip. The US is the only contry without a real universal scanner that can read all chips thanks to AVID and they're unwillingness to cooperate.

The good thing is most chips that are being put in today are all HomeAgain chips so they can be read by most veterinary hosps, unless the hospital is outdated in their technology.

so chipping gets my :thumbup:

microchipped ...
 

I do not know what "chip" Monday has, but when I went to see other dogs, the breeders were able to read a number when Monday was scanned.
Friday was just "chipped" at the vet's and the chip is from AKC Companion Animal Recovery in Raleigh, NC, I sure hope other scanners can read that chip. I had no idea that certain scanners did not work with all the chips.
It has a unique number encoded in the microchip (I am quoting) and a Tag number ... I had to fill out all the necessary info and I have a copy of the scan (like the UPC code) ...
I feel itz worth it since they are so precious to me.

Banfield doesn't even use Avid or Home Again...They use something else like Crystal Tag or something, not sure...It's read on a completely different frequency so unless the shelter has this particular scanner it won't show up supposedly, or at least it used to be that way. Not sure if they still use that microchip...Sorry that I don't have more info on it, but you could probably do a search and come up with a lot of info.

I had Gucci microchiped last week on the Aspca Mobile van for $10. She also had her shots done that day and she didn't yelp at all. The vet said Gucci was a very brave little pup. Only that day she was a bit sleepy, but mostly due to the shots. The next day she was her normal self.
By the way the chip is from Home Again.

Here is an article I came across....


"We recommend AVID for many reasons. First, the scanner reads all the chips that are sold in the United States. That includes The Home Again (which is actually made by a company called Destron), all other Destron chips including the original 400 MHz Destron chip (now these chips are 125 Mhz), the InfoPet #1, and all the AVID chips. The "universal" readers that were all programmed by AVID also ID a European Chip called Trovan that was sold for a very short time in the U.S. It is not legally sold now due to patent infringements

Crystal tag, does show up on scanners that vets and shelters use..

I had kizzys checked by both, just to be safe. And sure enough it showed up with the number.

So crystal tag does work!

That's wonderful!! Thanks for the info... Everything I had read up to now was saying that there was a problem with Banfield's microchips...My maltese has a crystal tag, so I'm really glad to hear this. I was really worried.

I use AVID chips on my dogs. My vets' Homeagain read DOES read them. It gives a number. The dogs from Germany had a chip implanted there. Those chips are NOT readable or even detected by most scanners in the US. So my German dogs have 2 chips!