is it really worthwhile to microchip a dog? - Page 2

Several years ago when hurricane ? blew through FLA. there were several people that had to flee without their pets- now I know most of us would NEVER leave a pet behind, but many people did( some had to). The rescues and shelters were over run. Some of the people that lost everything(pictures and paperwork), had no proof that their pet was actually theirs, unless it was microchipped or DNA'd. Shelter/ rescue organizers had a hard time sorting out who was telling the truth and who was trying to take advantage of the situation claiming that the cute toy poodle was theirs. So yes, please , if you care about your pets microchip, tattoo, and DNA them.

When I OFA'd my dog about 1.5 years ago the OFA required the dog have permanent ID in the form of a tatoo or microchip "if" you wanted it to show up on the registration of offspring that it was OFA'd. It did not exempt you from getting a number and certificate for OFA. Maybe this has changed since then. It kind of makes sense though because I believe you can OFA a mix breed dog.

What brand of microchips are people using these days? Year ago my vet was using Avid chips. They have now switched to Home Again. They still carry the Avid chips, but only chip them with Avid on request. What seems to be the biggest market for chips out there now? I know I see those (obnoxious) Home Again commercials all the time, so has this become the more widely used chip? Does it even matter since most of them are the same frequency (125 kHz) and can be read by the same type of scanners? What I don't understand is why the AKC chip is a different frequency (128 kHz) from most of the chips out there. Would this make it less likely to be read by the more universal 125 kHz scanners? Is there a particular type of chip people would recommend more over others? I do agree chipping is the way to go if there are no other forms of permanent identification on the dog. Just curious about what chip seems to be the most reliable or most popularly used?

Alexis, the best thing for you to do is get in touch with your dog warden and humane society and ask which scanner they use. Some use a universal but the brend in my area is a home again scanner. So I use home again chips. That way it is sure to be read.

OFA requires microchip or tatoo but microchip is becoming the preferred method.

I volunteer with a local rescue/dog pound and  during the recent historic floods here in Missouri we found several displaced pets - HAD  they had a microchip -return to  the owners would have been much quicker, fortunately none were put down because they were found in time but a chip would have greatly helped id them sooner.  These dogs go thru the local vets office and are scanned.

 A whoile aog I had a 1 year old gsd that I sold run after a deer and then got lost and then was hit by a car far from home. A state trooper picked him up and took him to a local vets, the dog HAD a chip but it HAD MIGRATED to the hip area and was not seen so the dog spent several days unknown of owner until a vet tech recognized the dog and notified the owner. (this was not the vet for the dog) The dog survived and is doing fine.  BUT  this is a good example to have the vet SCAN your DOG for the chip at it's ANNUAL visit to make sure it has not MIGRATED, it could make all the difference.

Also make sure your vet has a RECENT PHOTO in your PET/PETS with  pertinent information along with the tatoo/chip number. Anyone can quickly look at the photo if your dog has been found.  On my black dogs it is difficult to even see the tatoo number let alone read the numerals so I chip as well.

Because our county was declared a national disaster area FEMA along with other agencies came for a resource fair. The local Humane Society was giving FREEchips donated by Home Again to DISPLACED families'  pets so during the chaos if lost they could be reunited. 

for the sake of what £15? definatly

I have always used Avid for all my dogs.  It is cheaper if you have a multiple pet household as you pay one fee for a certain number of animals rather than pay the big fee for each pet.

Avid sends the information back to you after you send it to them to verify and as Hodie stated MISTAKES happen, I'd say 1/3 of what I sent them was INCORRECT so be sure to double check information is correct and current.

I am the owner of the recently lost then found dogs.  My rescue is microchipped and the shepherd is tattooed-in this case neither helped bring them  home.  I'm sure if it went on any longer the people who had them would have checked-but signs and ad's on Craigslist and a lot of footwork is what brought them home.  I'm not saying don't microchip-I'm just saying it didn't help in this case.

I owe that lady my world for taking such good care of the boys.

OFA does NOT require tattoo or chip.  Dogs without tattoos or chips are given numbers, certs & appear in the database same as dogs that have tattoos or chips.  It's the AKC that requires this information be provided to OFA or they will not include the OFA numbers on their pedigrees.  In fact the OFA went out of their way to explain they don't require it but if you want AKC to include the number the vet will need to verify and complete that portion of the app that accompanies the xray:

http://www.offa.org/vpi.html

 Microchips are intended to be inserted slightly in the muscle.  Sometimes, the vet or whoever does the insertion places the microchip in the subcutaneous tissue instead.  When this happens the chip may migrate.

One word of caution - when purchasing a microchip for a dog in the U.S, make sure it is not a foreign brand.  Many foreign microchips do not show up on domestic scanners.  Avid and Home Again are the 2 most commonly used chips in the USA.  See the link below:

http://www.amacausa.org/UserFiles/File/AvidStatementforUSDA2.pdf

Micky