Microchip Question

So we've had Whitey for almost a year now. He has a microchip in him, I have the separate tag for it, but haven't registered him under my name yet.

I guess I'm being chicken about it, because I don't want anyone thinking that I stole him!! He was given to us for free by some lady on the West Coast of Michigan and she or her mother lost the paper work for Whitey.

Do vets and such do checks on animals now, making sure that the owner is now truely the owner? Or is it just a free for all.

I would think that any vet would want to call the previous owner and make sure that the cat was not stolen, but they could just be lazy too...

I guess there is only one way to find out!

Also, he is an indoor cat only, but sometimes he just loves to sneak out when my hands are full. He doesn't make it farther than the porch, but still his attempts at escaping make me a little nervous.

You might want to call the microchip company and see who it's registered to.

The lady might have not registered it herself. If she did, it shouldn't be too hard to get her to transfer ownership to you.

What microchip company is it? That is important. Homeagain, acts like Homeland security and AVID can be a little more easy going.

I would just register....it shouldn't take you too long online. I am pretty sure vets only check if they are told that the person "found" the animal....then they scan it to see if it's chipped. I got my 2 chipped at a clinic... they were offering it so cheaply I couldn't pass it up. They are with 24hourpetwatch.com and I have such a peace of mind. Especially when I read all this stuff about the animals in New Orleans that were homeless and without ID, and they had no room in shelters and not enough $ to feed them all. That was the biggest problem.... they couldn't match owners to animals. 24hr pet watch has a space for work info, cell ph # and emergency contacts, also your vets info. Mine also have bright yellow reflector tags on their collars (that are really ugly) that have their chip ID #'s on them. Just in case they'd get out, or there was a fire & they ran out of the house, if someone found them they could call the 800# and give the ID # and 24 hr pet watch would release my info to the person. One can never be too safe!!

I second calling the microchip company.

Chessy came to me microchipped and registered to the shelter where I got him. I haven't registered him to me yet, but the shelter has record of me adopting him from them.

Thanks guys!

If I remember right I think the company was AVID. I originally went to their site and they seemed to indicate that you need to go through the vet. When I did go to the vet, I forgot. So now a year later when he's trying to go out a lot now, I started thinking of this. Yea being in school and learning about security and stuff really made me start thinking and getting all paranoid.

After we took in Whitey I called the lady a week later and she barely remembered me and wasn't too concerned with Whitey. Maybe she won't even remember owning a cat ????