How many of you have your cats microchipped?

Even though Rosie's indoors i got her chipped in december, just in case!. She also has a collar and tag which reads "Im Microchipped".

Sophie will be the same in a few months.

Its compulsory where I live.
My adopted cat and my kitten were chipped before I brought them home- so don't know how much it costs.
they are indoor only but it gives me peace of mind in case they get out. If I lived somewhere where it wasn't law- I would still get it done.
never heard of the chips causing any problems
Catherine

Is it illegal in some places to not have your pets chipped?

My cats are all indoor cats. I wondered about microchipping, but I don't feel comfortable with the idea as yet. Scared something will go wrong.

I really can't see what could go wrong. I've taken several cats and dogs to be chipped (at about $15 - $17 a shot, including registration, so I wonder about some of the fees quoted here), and none of them experienced any discomfort or complications. The transponder is about the size of a grain of rice, and the shot apparently hurts a lot less than inoculations, because neither the cats nor dogs flinched.

I only have an indoor cat and yes I will be getting him microchipped
in the next couple, three weeks when I take him to the vet for his
yearly shots.

Originally Posted by squirtle

My vets office called me back this afternoon to answer the questions they couldn't answer on the phone earlier today. The lady appologized and said that the girl who answered was new. She said that it costs $40 plus an exam fee of $30, because it takes 10-15 minutes of the vets time, then you have to pay $15 to register with Avida (I think I got the name right) and that is the nation wide one. She did say that their chips can't be read in Europe, so if Dori gets lost and swims across the ocean, they won't be able to read who she belongs to

She also said they use a large needle to insert it and it does hurt, her exact words were "some animals are babies about shots and those are the ones that seem to exagerate the pain of the microchip". I am seriously beginning to rethink my vets office. I think they are getting new people and they did get 2 new doctors, and I don't think I like them much. They don't seem to have the compassion for animals like Dori's old doctor she saw

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The AVID chip takes 30 seconds to implant. I do them all the time. The exam and office visit fee are way too much. The cats health (unless it is one step away from the grave) has little bearing on the chip. The chip is not going to have any effect unless the cat is severly immunocompromised and then, as with ANY injection, there is a chance that there will be infection. We've had ONE in almost a 1000 chips. We suspect that one was cause by another cat in the house as there were several small abscesses consistent with bites but one was near the chip.

Check with your local shelter and see if they are chipping. Its a lot cheaper and it is not dangerous to your pet. make sure you check and see which scanners are in use in your local shelters and purchase your chip accordingly. There are two standards, US and European (ISO). Not all scanners read both chips and not all scanners are in use. Do your homework.

Are microchips universally read from one vet to another vet's scanning device?

Also, I have an observation about Charlotte when I took her to the vet to get spayed. I informed the vet that I had obtained her from my sister who found her wandering around the streets for weeks in her neighborhood. No one is my sister's neighborhood knew who Charlotte belonged to either. Charlotte was already declawed when my sister found her. Obvioiusly, Charlotte had belonged to someone, right? Anyway, my vet never asked if I wanted to scan for a microchip. I suppose I am bad too for not asking to have her scanned. So, my observation is...even if a cat is microchipped, it doesn't mean the cat will ever been scanned and returned to the rightful owner...unless it's taken to a shelter.

Ouch and that is where the controversy exists. Many vets have US standard scanners and there are 1000s in shelters nationwide. Many agencies have one per officer. The new ISO scanners and chips are not in widespread distribution. With information from Crystal Tag the parent company of the ISO tags distributed via Banfield publishing a 1000 distributed with more on the way, there is a gap in coverage. Few if any non-Banfield vets have ISO compatible scanners. Most either have the Home Again or AVID scanners capable of detecting and reading all US standard chips. Veterinarians in our area do scan "newly found" animals presented by clients with US standard scanners. Those US standard scanners were provided free to shelters who signed an agreement to scan each animal at least once. Vets usually purchase their scanners and the chips at a slightly higher rate hence the more expensive fees. The best thing to do is ASK your local shelters and vet hospitals if they have scanners and chips and which kinds. It is my understanding that Banfield is placing a moratorium on chip implantation for 45 days in order to get more scanners into shelters. Having heard from them close to a month ago, I am still waiting for one for my shelter so we can review it. I have also been advised that only their 3rd generation (not either of the first two sets distributed) are capable of detecting (but not reading) all of the chips in use at this time. There a multitude of issues surrounding this and a number of news stations have done undercover investigations that are not shedding a good light on the problem. The bottom line is microchips are good, confusion in the microchip industry is bad.

Originally Posted by MissCharlotte

Are microchips universally read from one vet to another vet's scanning device?

Also, I have an observation about Charlotte when I took her to the vet to get spayed. I informed the vet that I had obtained her from my sister who found her wandering around the streets for weeks in her neighborhood. No one is my sister's neighborhood knew who Charlotte belonged to either. Charlotte was already declawed when my sister found her. Obvioiusly, Charlotte had belonged to someone, right? Anyway, my vet never asked if I wanted to scan for a microchip. I suppose I am bad too for not asking to have her scanned. So, my observation is...even if a cat is microchipped, it doesn't mean the cat will ever been scanned and returned to the rightful owner...unless it's taken to a shelter.

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That's a very good point, and the reason why Jamie also wears a breakaway collar with his name, address, and telephone number, plus a note that he's chipped. I hope that if he ever gets lost, either the tattoo, chip or tag will get him back to us ASAP. I'm surprised that your vet didn't automatically scan, though.

Mark,
Thank you so much for all of that information, I am going to make some phone calls to some of the local shelters.

This is just my opinion, but I think that there should be something in place where any cat that comes through the door at a vet's office, a shelter, hospital, etc. is checked for a chip. I think that this would help more animals who are lost be reunited with their families. While I understand that there are many kind, loving people out there who find an animal wondering around outside take them into their home, it is possible that they hve a family out there who really misses them. I hope that with the microchipping becomming so popular that scanning becomes more common. My vets office just started doing the microchipping, but they don't have a scanner

Vaccination is KNOWN to have risks for potentially fatal "side effects," including cancer. If there have been no bad effects from microchipping in like at least five years, and just looking at the two you can decide which is inherently riskier...

At my shelter, it's $110 for (for cats) rabies, FVRCP, FeLV/FIV testing, s/n, shelter tag, elastic safety collar, microchip, worming, and a cardboard carrier. All shelters in IL are required by law now to microchip adopted animals ^^

And yes, in some places it's required by law to have animals chipped.

Buddy is the only one, who is 'chipped. Since early last year, all pets from the Humane Society are 'chipped. He's registered with the monitoring company and a numbered tag came with him. Since none of my cats wear collars, his tag is in the kitchen junk drawer.

Opie and Buddy won't go out, on a bet and Rowdy seems to have outgrown her need to dash through the door. I'm not going to bother having Opie and Rowdy 'chipped.

Squirtle
In the state where I live (in Australia) its illegal to sell a kitten without a microchipp- punishable by a fine
Also all cats born or rehomed after a certain date -about 4 years ago- have to be registered (lifelong) with the local council- an entire cat costs nearly 3 times as much to register as a desexed cat. ($100 vs $35)
Good incentive to have cats desexed.

Zero isn't chipped, but I've thought about installing a new processor and maybe some RAM to upgrade him to a Zero XP model.

lol @ louse

both my indoor cats are microchipped. It's an incredibly simple procedure.

Microchipped?
Yes, my indoor only cat/cats are microchipped, just to be on the safe side

No, my indoor only cats are not microchipped