Question on microchipping

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PeterDevonMocha

PeterDevonMocha

Member Since 2009
Our local pet store has the company VIP come in on saturdays to do vaccinations and to do micro-chipping. They are asking $10.00 for the micro-chipping with lifetime registration .. I think this is a pretty good price, though I haven't looked anywhere else .. but was wondering if anyone on here has done the micro-chipping and do your cat's act bothered by it? Thanks for any help!
 
I had my dog done when he had his dental in Feb at the vets office. It cost me $25 so $10 is a real good price. He was knocked out when they done it and I have to take the cat in next week sometime for her a dental and Im doing it while she is already knocked out. The dog had no problems whatsoever. Im sure many others have had it done. I believe that it is a great thing to do since we never know what may happen. It could be the difference in getting your pet back and never seeing them again!
 
They wanted to be SURE Dakota didn't get lost - he has 2 chips, both active. They were inserted before he traveled here to us last week. The first one had been in quite some time, the second had been in about a month. I can't tell that either has caused an issue for him but I always wonder when we go inserting foreign objects into their bodies. I think $10 for lifetime is great! This chip is a 24PetWatch - they charge $18.95/year or something like $60 (?) for lifetime. My question would be how long will the company be in business to take the 'lost/found' calls....

My two cents....that and a couple of bucks buys a cup of coffee... :-D
 
Thanks you guys .. I was worried about inserting something "foreign" into mocha and twix's bodies as well .. but reassure myself by saying it's probably for the best .. the dr said the chip is smaller then a grain of rice .. He also does the purevax rabies vaccine as well for 10.00 and she is due for that also, so he can do both at the same time for 20.00 which sounds reasonable to me .. He said it's a long syringe they use to get the chip in .. do you think it hurts if they are not knocked out for it?
 
My local shelter has a microchipping and rabies clinic in the spring and fall. No sedation is used for any of the cats or dogs.

The needle is not much bigger than a sub-q fluids needle.

The cats take it in stride, as if nothing has happened.

Most of the dogs are scared and try to back away from getting the chips inserted.
 
Erik and Emme had it done about 3-4 years ago. The vet did it without sedation, and they didn't seem to have any problems during or after. I think I paid $30 each, with lifetime registration. The company is PetLink.
 
I had Hobbs chipped a few years ago. No sedation, no problems. I'm certain it cost more than $10 but it's worth the peace of mind.
 
One thing to be aware of is that the chip is only good if the people who find your cat are using a matching reader. Not sure about your area, but when I looked into getting Michelangelo chipped (and then Henry), there were numerous warnings in my area that it's potentially useless. There are about 4 different readers people use and if your cat is not chipped for all the readers, then you run the risk of them using the wrong reader and thinking your cat is a stray (there was even a recent lawsuit because a shelter put down a chipped dog because their reader didn't match the chip).

I opted to not get either of them chipped (at the moment) because Michelangelo never tries to get out anywhere and I was uneasy about shooting 4 different chips into Henry. Instead, Henry simply has a collar (old school technology :lol: ).
 
I had Remi and Phoebe done because we had to to move overseas with them. Remi actually bled for a bit after. Phoebe was fine. If we didn't have to do it I wouldn't have simply because I am also not crazy about injecting foreign things in them. But, all of my kitties are indoor only and don't usually try to make a break for it.
Also, please make sure your vet gives the pure vax in the limb too(as ALL vaccinations should be).
 
All my kitties are rescue kitties from the local shelter and they micro-chip them all before adoption.
 
hmmm .. I didn't know that about the chip readers, interesting .. the van doing the chipping was called VIP .. not sure if that would be who the chip was registered through as well? Questions to ask next week when they are back I guess .. My cat's are strictly indoors and also never ever try to make a run for it .. I think they know how good they have it here .. buttttt .. there are times when we have lots of people coming and going (over the holidays) with little feet around the house they aren't used to and I guess you just never know .. Plus, we've been under horrible tornado warnings and if we couldn't get out in time .. sigh .. I'd hate to think of anything like that happening but it does and if we can take a precaution part of me thinks we should go for it .. Thank you for all your input, it's really appreciated :-D
 
It might not be a problem in your area (I live in one of the most populated areas of the country, meaning more pets and more shelters and vets so a higher chance of different readers being used), but it's worth looking into. There are a couple of chips being manufactured that can be read by different readers, so you might see if that's what they're offering or if it's even necessary.

I'm just waiting till they manufactur a chip that can be read by all of the readers in my area. :YMSIGH:
 
It is true that some readers wont read all chips, however many shelters have the readers that do read most. Even if the chip number can not be read, the reader will indicate there is a chip. Many shelters have more than one reader.

Janeway and Conor got INFOPET chips from the vet, and then they got sued for using someone elses technology for inserting the chip. They still took calls and kept the database after they were no longer allowed to sell them. On my shelters scanners it would beep and indicate chip found but couldn't read it.

Also, no matter what company your chip is from, it wont mean a hill of beans if you don't update your contact info.

Our city shelter will register any chip even if you didn't get your pet there, and many of the chip databases will allow you to register OTHER chip companies chips.
 
I had Zeus microchipped at the shelter before I took him home. Didn't bother him at all, and no side effects. Interesting discussion about the different readers. I took Zeus to a different vet last year for help with his diabetes. They checked his chip and could tell that he had one and got the number for me. Then they gave me the number for the company that they use and when I called and gave them the chip number, they told me which company it was for... 24 Hour Pet Watch. I probably have that info somewhere from the shelter, but it was nice to know that it did work.
 
Cedric & Dallas were chipped last year and it's 24 hr pet watch or whatever it's called. I do believe there is a fee each year, I just haven't reached that point yet. I have always been afraid that Dallas will get out and wander (former stray).
 
What I'm really interested is getting a GPS tracker so I can find my own cat. Anyone ever use one of these? Henry didn't come home last night nailbite_smile and I'd rather know where he's at right now instead of having to wait for him to come home or for someone to find him. :?
 
yes, very interesting on the different readers .. I'm not sure if my shelter would have a reader or not .. It's kinda a hole in the wall shelter unfortunately .. :sad:

Has henry come home yet? That would make me nailbite_smile nailbite_smile
 
I hope Henry is home now, or comes home tonight. Keep the door open, he'll probably bring you a nice present :)
 
Municipal shelters and animal control facilities can get a free chip scanner from Avid.
http://www.avidid.com/solutions/shelters

Looks like the AKC also might provide free scanner although theres no obvious process on the web site to do that.
http://www.akccar.org/givingback/

Our shelter has been microchipping all up for adoption cats and dogs for years. We get calls from other shelters in the Bay Area when one of our alumni shows up, thanks to the microchips.
 
PeterDevonMocha said:
Has henry come home yet? That would make me nailbite_smile nailbite_smile
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Dyana said:
I hope Henry is home now, or comes home tonight. Keep the door open, he'll probably bring you a nice present :)
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It's been a full 24 hours now and no signs of him. nailbite_smile Prior, he has always been in hearing distance and usually comes running, never gone longer than an hour or two at most. I talked to all the neighbors and neighborhood kids and half of them already knew him (what a flirt he is!) and they said they'd keep an eye out. Tomorrow, I face the grim task of calling the shelters and creating missing posters. :cry:
 
KPassa said:
... Tomorrow, I face the grim task of calling the shelters and creating missing posters...
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Do NOT wait - shelters have limited time they may keep an animal and may be under no legal requirement to do so, unlike dogs. Also, phoning won't help; staff seldom have time to guess if this cat is your cat. You need to go to the shelter and look. They may escort you to any holding rooms for animals not yet released to the adoption floor.
 
BJM said:
KPassa said:
... Tomorrow, I face the grim task of calling the shelters and creating missing posters...
Click to expand...

Do NOT wait - shelters have limited time they may keep an animal and may be under no legal requirement to do so, unlike dogs. Also, phoning won't help; staff seldom have time to guess if this cat is your cat. You need to go to the shelter and look. They may escort you to any holding rooms for animals not yet released to the adoption floor.
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Had to wait since they were all closed by the time I gave up holding out hope yesterday. By "calling the shelters," I meant trying to figure out which one Henry might have been taken to. And that took me a good hour and four different numbers and numerous prompts (none of which let you leave a voicemail and all of which said to "come in person"). The one animal shelter I thought he would end up at is a couple of blocks from my work (whole reason I went into work today instead of calling out sick), however, I just found out it's closed on Tuesdays. :o :cry: But I've learned if he's in a shelter, he's most likely at the one by my house (which is open today!), so I'm heading home at lunch with a stack of "Missing" posters and I'm hitting that shelter first.

One thing I've learned in this mess is that all those various readers we have in my area, it depends on the vet and the shelter. Guess I'm going to find out up close and personal how they deal with the micro-chipping depending on area of the county (North County vs. South County). The South County ones (my area) seem to conform to using the same readers, so I'll be sure to ask for more specific details on how they deal with that problem directly when I go in today.
 
Yes, Henry returned. :-D

I forgot to ask at the humane society about micro-chipping coordination with the different readers (my mind must have been on other things ;-) :lol: ). I'll try to give them a call and see what they say.
 
Okay, I finally got around to asking about the micro-chipping in my area. My mistake, there's only three different types of Microchips (not four). They said it was up to the individual shelter and there was no "coordination" about whether the Scanners were universal and could read all three types of chips. :? So that means I basically have to call every shelter in town and ask if they have a universal scanner for all three frequencies. I think at this point, I'll probably just go with the 134.2 kHz chip since that's the most popular and even if they don't have a universal scanner, it'll still be most likely able to read the ISO frequency.

A bit more information:

What is a microchip frequency?

A microchip frequency refers to the type of signal emitted by a scanner in order to activate and read the microchip. There are three microchip frequencies in the United States: 125 kHz, 128 kHz, and 134.2 kHz. 134.2 kHz is the ISO (International Standards Organization) standard and is the primary frequency used worldwide. The AVMA also recommends the 134.2 kHz frequency.

Does it matter what type of scanner is used to read a microchip?

It is essential that any organization scanning animals uses a universal scanner in order to read all three microchip frequencies distributed in the United States. Any shelter, rescue group, clinic, veterinarian, or humane organization not using a universal scanner will miss microchips, making it harder for lost pets to reunite with their families. For information on low-cost universal scanners, contact us.
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And from here:
What type of microchip does Found Animals provide?

Found Animals provides 134.2 kHz microchips, the ISO standard. Three microchip frequencies are currently distributed in the United States: 125 kHz, 128 kHz, and 134.2 kHz. The 134.2 kHz microchip is the most common frequency in the US and worldwide. It is also the required frequency for US military bases. Because lost pets may have any of these microchip frequencies, it is important to use universal scanners that detect all three frequencies.

How do I determine if my scanners are universal?

Some scanners read only one or two of the three microchip frequencies, even when they're marketed as being "universal." To ensure your scanner is universal, it is necessary to test your scanner on all three microchip frequencies. Please contact us if you would like assistance testing your scanners.
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