Just found this article in a news letter that I received from Little Big Cat and thought everyone should be aware:


There are three major U.S. microchip companies: Avid, Home Again, and Banfield (the Petsmart vet clinic folks). When microchips first came out, Avid and Home Again distributed thousands of scanners, at no cost, to shelters all over the U.S. These two chips use similar frequencies and can be read by the universal scanner that most shelters and veterinarians have on hand.

Around 2004, after its supplier lost a patent infringement lawsuit, Banfield developed its own microchip according to ISO (International Standards Organization) specifications, which are widely used in Europe. Banfield's reasoning is that ISO standards will eventually be put in place in the U.S.; but the truth is that this is years in the future, if ever. Because they use a different frequency, BANFIELD MICROCHIPS CANNOT BE DETECTED BY MOST SCANNERS IN THE U.S.! There have been several horrible cases where pets were lost and ended up in a shelter. The shelter scanned for a chip but DID NOT FIND the Banfield chip; the animals were subsequently euthanized. If your cat (or dog) was microchipped at Banfield after 2004, it is NOT fully protected, and you may want to consider having an Avid or HomeAgain chip added.

I'm not really sure how the chips work first of all as far as what can scan what...

We got Maui from a rescue group that had animals at our local Petsmart (which does NOT have a vet by the way!) and he came with an AVID microchip. When I took him to my vet for his initial check up I asked them to scan him to see if he really did have a chip (just to be sure!) and they said he did but they couldn't read it because it was a different brand. They told me that the scanner they have can detect a chip but if it isn't the right brand (I can't remember what it was) they can't read it, but our local Humane Society does have an AVID scanner and they would be able to...

So I guess I'm even more confused because from that letter it sounds like all the scanners should be able to read all the chips!? :dk:

But it did detect a chip, right? I would hope that if a shelter had a stray cat and the reader detected a chip but couldn't read it, they'd look for another shelter or vet with the other brand of reader to get the barcode for them. A chip that's completely undetectable by the most common scanners scares me. I'm glad there's no Banfield clinics in my area!

Hell603, is there a website where we could get more info? I'd like to pass this along. I know a lot of people that use Banfield clinics on another forum.

But it did detect a chip, right? I would hope that if a shelter had a stray cat and the reader detected a chip but couldn't read it, they'd look for another shelter or vet with the other brand of reader to get the barcode for them. A chip that's completely undetectable by the most common scanners scares me. I'm glad there's no Banfield clinics in my area!

Yes, they were able to detect a chip with their scanner. I do know Maui has an AVID microchip but I don't know what kind of scanner the vet's office has. I suppose I could call on Monday and find out if anyone is curious- I kind of am!

im kind of curious how they know cats with chips were euthanized if no chip was detected.....