Quote:

One note: chips migrate. Do not count on your chip being in the same place that it was last year. One of my dogs has two, her chip migrated to her chest, so we wound up placing another because no one could find it until I pointed it out.

Yikes. A microchip should not migrate ever. Sounds like a bad placement to me.

Here in the EU all animals are required to have either the microchip or an ear tattoo. Since an official EU passport is given the pet, and the microchip number matches the passport sticker - a Vet has to implant it.

My cat has the chip - in the neck, can barely barely palpate it. Cost me some 15 bucks I think. Should be checked as soon as its in to make sure its readable.

My puppy was already tattooed when I got here, so I wont be chipping her.. the tattoo also matches her passport.

Kind of anal over here about pet passports.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

But my cat hardly flinched when she got hers put it. (Shes an American cat, but she was chipped here when the CZ joined the EU)

Chip away, I think they are a good thing. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My two cents worth.

If you want the microchip to be effective, implant three - one from each brand. If it can't be read, it's absolutely useless.

QUOTE: Yikes. A microchip should not migrate ever END

I've heard that they used to; they were placed hapzazardly and were a different type. The instructions are more universal now (about placement) and they rarely (if ever) migrate anymore. At least, that's what my vet says.

My dogs' chips are in the edges of their ears. I can't imagine it migrating ......... maybe if it had been in the scruff of the neck or something.

It's cheap, and it's free at monthly clinics at lots of vets and rescue shelters, and at dog fairs.

And speaking of rescues: I think every dog I've rescued was turned in because of health costs! At least, that's the way it has looked when I got them home and checked out. I too would find the money (and have done so), but there are good people with the best of intentions who just cannot ante up when presented with a multi-thousand-dollar treatment. There are good people who can't afford their own medical care.

But that's not meant to take away from the truth that spending a small fortune on a dog's health is something that comes from a good heart.

You could be right. My cat wasnt chipped until 2004, so maybe by then they were better made or something. Neck should be fine, its a standard location and thats where my cat's is..

IMHO, if the needle length is inserted to the proper depth, it should guarantee placement at the correct cutaneous layer where it shouldnt be able to move about.. its pretty much an automatic 'injection', so to speak..

At least, they are here. Ive no idea what they might look like in the states...

I chipped my old dog in 1996 (he was a young dog then!). I used the correct procedure that I had done lots of times before, scanned the chip, it read fine, all well...
...it migrated, and now sits in front of his right scapula. I suppose if someone used the exact scanning technique they might just pick up the chip! Hopefully he isn't going anywhere though as his wild-dog days are well and truly behind him.
The chips now are all supposed to *not* do this. However, I have a tattoo, chip and collar tag on my young dog. Talk about over-cautious. The reader/scanner thing is a bit of a worry though...maybe I should put some more chips in there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

i really dont understand the concept of the mirco chip???
Are dogs really being stolen that much that they required to be tattooed and mirco chiped and if they are...What is the recovery rate of actually having one found????....seem to me i cant get rid of my GSD's...they are constantly by my side, under my feet and in my face....i tryed to run away from them and they just keep following me....if it wasnt for a closed patio door and a truck that can out run them....i know my vet wanted me to tattoo and mircochip mine but i didnt see the point in it cause they are a pack animal and i am the pack....i could see putting in a global positioning device...but not a chip or tattoo....Is having a mircochip or tattoo just something that is a new fad/ego trip or is it just another form of income for the one that do this????

QUOTE: i really dont understand the concept of the mirco chip?? END

1. From earlier (me): It's cheap, and it's free at monthly clinics at lots of vets and rescue shelters, and at dog fairs. END

2. Do you have tags on your dog ID-ing them? If so, why?

The answers to that question are the same answers, except that the microchip doesn't detach from the collar accidentally and can't be removed by a thief (or just by someone who finds your dog after an accident, say, or a natural disaster, or a gate left open, and on and on.......).

Im wondering what a US microchip looks like. The one my cat has looks like a piece of rice. And it is not for locating my cat if she gets lost. It doesnt have any info in it other than her ID number and country code issued by, and its only to prove her Passport is really belonging to her...

What does the US chip look like?

I know of a dog that goes to the park near our house who has his owner`s name and cell phone # tattoed in one ear. His other ear has the normal tattoo with the phone number of the registry under it. If he looses his dog just about anyone can get them back to him. with a microchip they would have to have the right reader over the right place to even be able to find out it`s there. A good collar and tags with an ear tattoo seems much more reliable. We`ve had a dog lost in a shopping center near one of the busiest roads in town and gotten a call 10 minutes later from my brother telling us that Morris was home. Somebody had seen him jump out the window in the 5 minutes we were in the dry cleaners and taken him to the address on the tags.

Hope that guy never changes his cell phone number.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />