Microchipping

[709juggalette]

So after reading all of the replies to the collar thread,I started thinking about microchipping.

My girls are INDOOR only,but my beloved Hatchet was indoor only and managed to slip out.He didn't have his collar on and sadly I never seen him again.I am worried that if my girls got out,they would also vanish.They never try to get out,but there is always the possiblity.My landlord was working on my bathroom ceiling and running in and out,so I had to keep the girls locked in a room.But you know,there is always a chance...as in the case with Hatchet.

I am really starting to ponder microchipping them.
How much on average does it cost and is it really worth it??? Any cons to it?
I want to learn all I can on it before making my decision.

 

[mrblanche]

Check with your local vets and shelters. We do low-cost microchipping on a regular basis, which is less than $25 (maybe $15?).

It does work. We have called people who didn't even know their pet was missing yet. And, unfortunately, we've called people to let them know their pet was brought in dead by our Animal Control people, but at least they had closure.

 

[709juggalette]

Thats pretty cheap...for some reason I expected over $100.
Even though I am in Canada,vet prices are generally the same.I think I will give my vet a call and find out how much they charge.

 

[mrblanche]

When microchipping was fairly new, I think our vet charged $60. I don't know what they charge now, because Ella was microchipped at the shelter when we adopted her.

 

[goldenkitty45]

I've owned cats for a LONG time. None of them are microchipped. They are 100% inside cats and don't wear collars either (most all of my cats were shown in cat shows).

I won't get them microchipped for other reasons that I won't go into on the board.

 

[missymotus]

Mine are all chipped, law in the state they are from but I would have done it myself it they hadn't come with it. All kittens born here will also leave chipped. I know too many cases where cats have gone missing, collar comes off and the owner is found through microchip.
Just another tool to help get your cat back.

Costs $30-40 for life, no annual fees.

 

[white cat lover]

There are concerns over microchipping leading to cancer. Basically you have to weigh the risks vs. the benefits and decide if the risk is great enough if they get out that you wish to chip them.

None of mine are chipped, partly because if someone saw a cat wandering around here, they would assume it's a barn cat, feed it, and otherwise leave it be outdoors.

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by white cat lover

None of mine are chipped, partly because if someone saw a cat wandering around here, they would assume it's a barn cat, feed it, and otherwise leave it be outdoors.

Same here. I do it myself if a cat looks like it's in good shape because everyone lets their cats roam.

Mine aren't chipped. Unless there's visible identification on an animal here (and sometimes if there is) people don't pay much attention. There's vets who may scan - but only if a person is going out of their way to care for an animal in the first place, there's no animal shelter.

 

[nekochan]

All my pets are microchipped. I have heard of hundreds of cases where pets were reunited with their owners because they were microchipped, in some cases years after they went missing.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

There are concerns over microchipping leading to cancer. Basically you have to weigh the risks vs. the benefits and decide if the risk is great enough if they get out that you wish to chip them.

I think unless more research is done which shows otherwise, the risk seems to be so low as to be almost nonexistent.
There have been reports of only a few dogs developing tumors near microchip injection sites that I have been able to find. In one of those cases the tumor was NEAR the injection site but it was also in the spot where vaccinations were given. The researchers reported that the tumor was likely either caused by the microchip or vaccinations-- and vaccine-induced tumors are common so I would not bet that it was caused by the microchip. The other dog who developed cancer, the tumor was covering the microchip, this was in an 11 year old dog. There is no way to know for sure if the tumor was the cause.
That is a few cases-- out of millions of pets with microchips.

There were also a few studies with mice/rats where tumors were detected near microchips (implanted for identification.) These were studies where they were purposefully exposing the rodents to radiation and carcinogenic chemicals to see the results, not studies on microchips, and they were using strains of mice/rats which are prone to cancer (because the purpose was to study cancers or carcinogens.) In the rats the incidence of tumors around the microchip site was 1%.
Of course lab rats and mice are pretty prone to cancer already (pet rats are the same.)

 

[zephyer78]

I am of two minds about this.

First, I can see the benifits, especially if your cat get's a long way from home.

But...you have to scan the cat to get the info for the chip, and to me it just seems kind of werid in a 1984 type way. I don't want to think about my beloved Autumn being able to be scanned like so much merchandise!

For the record Autumn is chipped, it was a requirment to bring her home from the shelter, but if I had a choice, I would have rather had her tattooed.

IMHO, tattooing is better, becasue you can just look at the ear and see right away the cat belongs to someone...even if it is a # that gets tattooed, than you would enter the # into a computer (not realy sure how tattoing works). Also there is less risk (for cancer, bad skin reaction etc.) with a tattoo

 

[709juggalette]

The thing is with tattoos,they can fade over time.
I have worked with ex-racing greyhounds,as well as hunting beagles that were tattooed in their ears and many of the tattoos were faded and some hard to read.

Thanks for the advice/opinions everyone.I am going to read more about it,still have not made my choice.

 

[nekochan]

My dog has both a microchip and a tattoo. The problem with a tattoo (aside from the fading/readability issue) is there is not one national tattoo database. If you find a pet with a tattoo you have to figure out where the tattoo is registered in order to be able to find the owner. Just having the tattoo itself or the tattoo number does not automatically mean you know who owns them. There are a number of different registries and some are local to specific areas (or to Canada) so if you are not from the same area where the cat's owner lives you might not know about the local registry or have the contact info...
It can also be difficult to find a place to get the tattooing done. Some breeders will do tattoos with their litters but if the animal is an adult it can be more difficult.

 

[roobear]

Both of my cats are microchipped, Frank has two, cos he got into a fight and had scratch on his neck and we thought he had lost his chip when he hadn't so had it done again. Both my cats are outdoor so it was worth getting them chipped. If your cats don't show any sign or wanting go outside i don't think it is really worth it, but if you think they might escape or make a random bid for freedom like my boyfriend's cat does on regular basis then get it done.

 

[nekochan]

Originally Posted by roobear

Both of my cats are microchipped, Frank has two, cos he got into a fight and had scratch on his neck and we thought he had lost his chip when he hadn't so had it done again. Both my cats are outdoor so it was worth getting them chipped. If your cats don't show any sign or wanting go outside i don't think it is really worth it, but if you think they might escape or make a random bid for freedom like my boyfriend's cat does on regular basis then get it done.

Personally even if they don't want to go outside I like to have a permanent form of ID just in case.. You never know what might happen that could cause them to become separated from you. Just look at all the pets after Hurricane Katrina who were not reunited with their owners because there was no ID or no way to find where their owners ended up (that's where the 'alternate contacts' the microchip registration asks for come in handy!)

 

[farleyv]

Make sure if you move you notify the chip company. We found a cat that was chipped, called the company, the company called the people and they had moved and never gave a new address!

The company would not even give us the name of the owner so we could search ourselves. A nightmare!!

 

[cococat]

First thing shelters and rescues do is scan for a chip. Also at a vet's office.
Mine is 100% indoor, but she is definitely chipped.
I want to do what I can to get her home safely, the chip can be a big help in several situations.
Dogs are chipped and tattoo'ed.

 

[kittykrista]

I have only one of the five chipped and thats only because he will jump the fence and roam. I had to change my phone number a few times, you must update the data base (mine was done online) or the chip will be worthless if you kitty can't find you.

 

[ebrillblaiddes]

My two are non-chipped because they're 100% indoor and on the skitty side so not likely to dart outdoors. They don't even wear collars to put their rabies tags on (which is city law here) because I felt that the risk of getting a collar caught on something indoors was higher than the risk of them getting caught without one. (I do have their paper rabies certificates for vet visits.)

If I got a cat that was inclined to go out, I would collar and maybe chip it.

Chilsa

wore a collar with a tag that offered a reward, when we lived in an apartment where I let him out (not the girls--they weren't fixed and were too skitty to want out anyway, but I think he was raised indoor-outdoor and he really didn't like being cooped up all the time).

I'm pretty sure the risks are minimal. The chips don't really interact with the cats' bodies, so in the cases where a cat turns up with a tumor near the chip site, I would guess that the tumor would have happened somewhere in the cat anyway and when it was floating around as the original starter cell maybe it stuck to the piece of stuff that was sitting there. Maybe that would be a good thing because otherwise it might have grown nearer a major organ, although now I'm wildly speculating and can't really back that up.

 

[sumaii]

Amadeus was microchiped at the shelter when he got fixed.

I personally think its a good idea for my situation because Amadeus like to come outside and a harness and leash to hang out with the dogs and if he ever managed to disappear I like knowing that he has some sort of identification that can't be removed. He also wears his collar at all times, but its a safety collar that will come off if he ever gets stuck ergo he would lose his id.

I think that in your situation it would be beneficial to have the girls chipped.

 

[icklemiss21]

All of mine are microchipped, it is a by-law here that all animals have identification (through tattoo, microchip etc) so the majority of pet owners know that they can have a stray checked to see if it has a chip.

Out of the strays that come into the shelter, I would say about 5% of them have microchips, and about 20% of them do not have up to date information on the chip - we always hold microchipped cats longer on advertising holds as we know they really do belong to someone but dont always find the owner.

I can think of three dogs I can think of this year that have come in with tattoos, only one was readable, but the owner had already been calling asking if anyone had found her dog so it was matched up without us ever having to look into the info behind it, the other two were unreadable, they were so faded.

Originally Posted by farleyv

Make sure if you move you notify the chip company. We found a cat that was chipped, called the company, the company called the people and they had moved and never gave a new address!

The company would not even give us the name of the owner so we could search ourselves. A nightmare!!

The chip companies have to follow privacy laws, I have my options checked to realise my name and phone number, but not that of the emergency contact, as per their wish. So if you found one of mine, they would call me and if they didnt get in touch, my emergency contact and give you my name and #. But with concerns over privacy, I find more and more people check the do not release my information box on the forms