Microchip? Yes or no? - Page 2

I have three of five animals with micro chips they came with them... I wanted to chip and tattoo my Zoey( semi feral and thought tattoo would be great as someone could see and note she must have a home) ... Vet convinced me not to chip her and no vet in area tattoos .. If they come with them to me so be it but I will not add a foreign being into my kitties or doggies

Not all shelters have scanners nor to most scan even 10% of cats( dogs likely 90%)

Really? I was under the impression that almost all U.S. shelters have scanners. . .they don't cost that much. I know they DON'T scan cats a lot of the time, but it's not because they can't.

well our local shelter or lb( PD run) does not have one only the HS and some vets( not all have them around here)

I was informed that the tattoos are part of a tattoo-a-pet national database just like the chips.

From what I've heard, cats are not put to sleep or attempted to be spayed/neutered without first checking for tatts and chips.

Upon losing a pet, you can also inform them of the description and the chip/tatt info which can quickly help identify the animal.

The chip is definitely better, but the tattoo is just icing on the cake.

The problem with tattoos is that they can fade with time. Jamie's is barely legible now (he's 12) and there's no way he'd let anybody but me or perhaps a vet look at his ears without biting. Miezi's (she's 11) can still be read, but has also faded quite a bit. At least people can see that they've both been tattooed, but I wouldn't depend solely on that.

The system they use here is to put the county initials and year in one ear and the vet's code (initials and a two digit number) in the other.

My cats came to me micro chipped as they were adopted from the shelter. If they weren't micro chipped, I would of had it done. I've seen so many success stories of pets being reunited with their owners all because of a microchip. My dogs were micro chipped too.

Thanks for the info on tattoos although it would have to be a friendly stray to let you do that to its ears and how would it work on a pure black cat? I would love to see a system here where females had some kind of tattoo when spayed. My vets do something that i think more vets should do and that is scan every time you take a new pet so if you did find an animal and it needed to go to the vets it would automatically be checked

I do think that every female cat should be tattooed when spayed. It wouldn't even take any special equipment---just a bit of tattoo ink rubbed into the incision would leave enough of a mark. I hate having to guess whether a stray is spayed or not.

Yup Misa is microchipped. Vinnie and Francis are microchipped too.

For dark skinned animals, obviously a dark blue would not work. However, from what I understand a shade of dark green is used with great effect. This goes for farm animals with dark skin as well.

Here is a link to a page that talks about various ways to ID pets:

http://www.cats-and-facts.com/pet-identification.html

Another problem with tattoos is there is no central database. If you find an animal with a tattoo, then what? Do you know where to find the actual owner's information?
Maybe you've heard of tattoo-a-pet, so you might call them but there are many other tattoo registries out there as well so the cat may be registered with a different one. With dogs it's even more difficult because in addition to the pet tattoo databases, dog tattoos might only be registered with the national breed club for their breed, or with the AKC or CKC or other kennel club.
With a microchip, you can usually tell which company the chip is from when it is scanned so you can look up the number quickly and easily.
My dog was already tattooed when I got her, but her breeder made an mistake with her registration papers (her previous owner was sent the wrong dog's papers, with the wrong tattoo number) so I actually have no idea who her tattoo would be listed as being registered to if anyone if someone contacted the right kennel club. When I got her I had her microchipped and the tattoo and microchip both registered with AKC and the microchip company, but there are still a number of other tattoo registries out there she is not registered with.

The other problem with tattoos is beause there is no regulation or central registries, this means anyone can use any number they want for their pet's tattoo. This means your pet's tattoo number could actually be registered as being owned by someone else through other tattoo registries.


Hey I wonder if I could have my pets tattooed with the word "microchip" so people would know to scan them!