For those who have their cats microchipped

Okay, I'm seriously considering getting my two cats microchipped. But a few things I am curious about.

1- Do you know it is there, can you feel it? I'm worried about always feeling it when petting them. The vet tech assured me I wouldn't feel it, but wanted to see from others if your really can't.

2- Have any of your cats had any complications from it? I've seen the studies that say it may cause cancer. I have lived through (and so did my cat luckily) a tumor caused by a vaccine. I remember the struggle for him to recover after the tumor was removed and don't want to see another cat suffer through that. I know pretty much anything can cause cancer, but has your cat personally experienced any complications from a microchip.

Nope, can't feel em.

In the 20 odd years that microchips have been widely available, I have not had one dog, cat, or bird have any kind of adverse reactions or complications from their chips.

That said, pretty much anything in our lives carries some risk of being carcinogenic, I'd rather take the chance with a chip than with over vaccinating

Oliver got chipped last summer... you definitely can't feel it... the chip is about the size of a grain of rice and gets injected into the fattiness of their scruff - even right after the injection I couldn't feel the chip... Oliver hasn't had any problems at all with the chip... like the previous post said, EVERYTHING you do in life has some kind of risk, like there's conflicting thought on how safe using cell phones is, but I didn't throw mine away because of it... anyway, no problems here and I haven't personally heard of/known of anyone who has had problems

You can sometimes feel them right after the impland on kittens. They don't have a lot of fat on their bodies yet.

As they grow, you will most likely not feel them ever again. Sometimes though, like my cat Forest I can feel his chip if I look for it. We discovered this at the vet the last time we went.

My other 5 precious babies, I can not feel their chips. As for the size, to give you an example they are" ---- "long and about that "o" wide. I did these measurement base on the home again microchip I have on my keychain. If you are curious enough ask the vet to show you. They are impressive little things.

I am not sure about the cancer thing. I personally think less risky then vaccinating your cat. Microchips down asorb into the body. They go right underneath the skin. Then that's about it.

I think you should go to the vet clinic and address your concerns to the vet.

I adopted my cat a few days after he was microchipped at the shelter. You could feel it for the first few days — because of swelling — but afterwards, no, you can't feel it at all. And no reactions of any kind. He spends a lot of time lazing on his back, so obviously he can't feel it either.

Nikita was microchipped when she was spayed a year ago. The chip has moved from the original location and is now a bit higher up on the side of her neck and I can feel it if I look for it. It doesn't bother her at all though, as in she doesn't scratch at it or behave in any way where I'd guess it was irritating her and there haven't been any complications.

I was worried about it having moved and brought it up at the her annual check up last time but they reassured me it was fine and also did a scan to make sure it was still working etc.

I can't feel them on my two.

On the vaccination note, though, I've been reading that if you have them vaccinated at six months, you never need to have them vaccinated again... I'm not sure how this applies to rabies, but it applies to the other ones, and research shows that it's rather pointless to vaccinate after a certain point. I'm loosely remembering this, though, and I have to go read the website again which was really in depth with a lot of studies on it.

I think when it comes to vaccines, even though the FVRCP vaccine doesn't come in the form yet. ( I agree with the top poster about the six months thing ) If kittens go through their kitten shots, they should be okay especially if they are indoor cats.

However the Rabies/FELV vaccine are two different things. Rabies is required by law in most states. No use getting around that. However PUREVAX has a rabies vaccine. It's less envasive, and it's not a needle injection. It's spendier, you have to get it done every year. But I feel better about it.

I know that the FELV vaccine come in this form too.

I have to agree with those above that say they can feel the chip if they look for it. I could feel Jack's at first when I was petting him (He was a 6 week old kitten), but now I have to really look for it to feel it.

No- you can not feel the microchip- if goes under the skin and it's smaller than a grain of rice. (I am a vet tech and microchip at our shelter all day long- i promise you can't feel it if it's implanted properly! Those who can feel theirs on their pets may not have had it inserted under the skin far enough )

As far as the cancer concern goes. Your risk of loosing your kitty and it getting hit by a car/ winding up in a shelter/etc is MUCH higher than your kitty's risk of contracting cancer from the microchip. Aside from that -there are people out there who thing EVERYTHING causes cancer without taking into consideration certain people/animals may be more genetically predisposed than others- so don't let them scare you away from being responsible and microchipping. I have microchipped hundreds of animals and have yet to hear of any of them comming down with cancer as a direct result.

Also one more thing about the needing to vaccinate only 1x brought up by other members- this is not accurate, please do not go by this information. If you adopt a kitten -it needs several series of its vaccines to build up its immune system. Once it has had the recommended amount of boosters/etc....THEN they only need it once a year (and yes in SOME vaccines, may not need it again for a while- but you must check with your vet on the series/type of vaccine they're using- there are different brands/kinds and they're not all the same! some vaccines depending- you would not need boosters, but for some- you would. check with your vet/shelter and see what they use!) Also there is a rabies vaccine available now that is formulated especially for kittens/etc and is a lot easier on their bodies- ask about that one!