Pet Microchips

Essentially, microchips are computer chips about the size of a grain of rice. Easily implanted under your pet's skin by a hypodermic needle, microchips provide permanent identification that won't wear out, fade, or get lost if the pet runs away. Special scanners find the microchip and can translate into a specific ID code. These unique numbers can then be found on a database and, with luck, the owners can be contacted and the family will be together again.

A lost microchipped dog named Romie almost lost her life because there are multiple chips being marketed today with at least four different types of frequencies. Over the last 17 years, the predominant frequency in the United States has been the 125 kHz frequency. Romie had a different chip, one that emits a frequency of 134.2 kHz, otherwise known as an ISO chip. The local animal shelter was using a scanner designed for 125 kHz chips and actually missed Romie's chip!

Luckily, a shelter employee recognized Romie and was able to contact her owner promptly. This confusion of frequencies has caused a storm of controversy. According to Dr. Dan Knox of the AVID Company, a U.S. microchip pioneer, these multiple frequencies will continue to put pets at risk by confusing the system. "There are more than 100,000 scanners capable of identifying chips at 125 kHz in shelters currently. Adding new frequencies will only cause more work for under-staffed shelters and will potentially be dangerous to pets."

Dr. Knox's concern was validated in 2004 when a young dog was euthanized after a Virginia shelter failed to find a microchip. The dog had been implanted with the ISO standard chip and the shelter could not read this chip.With the exception of the United States, the rest of the world has been using the ISO chip for identification. Recently, 2 major veterinary pharmaceutical companies have teamed up with microchip manufacturers to create a stronger support system for the ISO chip by handing out more than 60,000 new scanners that are capable of reading all four frequencies in use.

Another major issue is that many pets are not properly registered. In fact, Michael Gendreau, product manager for the ResQ® ISO chip manufactured by the Bayer Company states that less than half of microchipped pets have been entered accurately into any database – a major fault with this system. Ms Lutz agrees and adds "15% of Americans move every year. With everything that happens in a move, how many people will remember to change the address and phone number for their pet's microchip?" This is why old fashioned methods, such as ID collars or the free "get me home tag" (www.getmehome.com) should be used along with the microchip.

Facts About Microchips

• Microchips are small computer chips about the size of a grain of rice. They have unique ID numbers that can be read by electronic scanners.
• In North America, there are 4 different frequencies of microchips in use and not all scanners can read all 4 types of microchips.
• This has led to confusion, problems, and at least one instance in which a puppy was euthanized despite having a microchip implanted.
• Leading veterinary organizations and animal welfare groups are calling for the use of “universal” scanners to help prevent these issues.
• Beyond incompatibility of scanner and chip, another major problem is that most pets with microchips are never registered properly in an easily accessible database.
• When pets are not registered properly, it can lead to delays or even prevent reunions with the pet’s family.
• Microchips are wonderful and powerful tools to help keep our pets safe, but until certain issues are resolved, this high tech pet ID may not be ready for prime time.