Is Microchipping the Best Form of Loss Prevention For Your Pet?

Make no mistake: microchipping is a valuable aid in protecting your dog from loss or theft. Microchipped dogs have been recovered and returned to their owners from all the way across the country. The question remains, however, if it is the best form of loss or theft prevention for your pet. This article will discuss some of the advantages, as well as some of the disadvantages, of microchipping your pet.

Advantages

Microchipping your pet has several advantages over other forms of identification. Although collars with tags provide an convenient and obvious form of identification, they are also easily removed. And, while tattoos are permanent, they also fail to provide any immediately useful information to rescuers unless the tattoo consists of the owner's name and address. Some of the advantages of microchipping include:

Ease of administration: Many veterinarians, shelters and rescues have access to microchipping equipment. The microchip is relatively small, roughly the size of a grain of rice. This small size makes it a suitable device for all breeds, since it is easily injected and rests comfortably in its position between the shoulder blades of even the smallest dog. Although the size of the needle used to implant the microchip is intimidating to some owners, the dog being injected rarely notices a properly given injection for more than a few seconds.

Microchips, in order to be useful in recovering your pet, must be registered with an organization that stores your address and phone number. The need to create and update this file is the only drawback to an otherwise simple task.

Permanence: Microchips are rarely rejected from the dog's body, making them a permanent form of accurate identification.

Discreet: Unlike tattoos and collars, microchips cannot be seen with the naked eye; neither can they be felt under the dog's skin after they've been injected. Because they cannot be seen, dog thieves are unable to easily remove microchips or alter their appearance.

Cost: Microchips are not the least expensive of all forms of identification; however, they can be extremely inexpensive if you "shop around." Because they receive relatively few requests for microchipping, veterinarians may tend to be expensive compared to other sources of the service. Low-cost microchip clinics are sometimes sponsored by local humane societies or shelters; sometimes local dog clubs also sponsor such clinics at their annual events.

Disadvantages

In addition to the chips' advantages, they have disadvantages as well. Some of these disadvantages are minor when compared to other means of identifying your animals. Migrating microchips, for example, pale in comparison with thieves removing dogs' limbs or ears to remove a tattoo. Some of the disadvantages of microchips include:

"Migrating" Microchips: Even though microchips are usually firmly implanted in the dog's muscle, on rare occasions they do come loose from their moorings. This microchip migration does not occur as frequently as it once did, due to improvements being made to the microchips and to the implant procedure. However, on these rare occasions the scanners used to read the information recorded on the chips are unable to locate the chip at all. For this reason, it is imperative that you have your dog scanned on an occasional basis to be certain that the chip can still be read.

Lack of Uniformity: Not every organization uses the same kind of chip. AVID and the Home Again chips are two of the more common types. The Trovan ISO ID K162 FDX-B chip is currently in use in Canada. This chip may not be able to be read by US chip readers and the US chips might not be able to be read effectively by Canadian readers. If you are traveling across country or into Canada, make certain that the chip you use for your pet is readable by shelters or vets in the area that you will be visiting.

Potential for Infection: It is very rare that infection occurs at the microchip injection site. While rare, however, any invasive procedure--no matter how minimal--has a slight chance of causing infection. After the microchip implant has been performed, please be certain that the injection site remains clean to ensure that infection has no chance to develop.

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