Id Chips the same?

Okay, Please move if this doesn't belong in the forum.

And, yes, this question has been asked somewhere before I am
*sure*. Just can't find it!

Anyway, what I want to know is -
if I take Lexi to my vet to be scanned for a chip, will ANY and ALL
chips be detected, or only certain chips from certain manufacturers/services?

In other words - if my vet scans and is negative, does that mean
definitely she doesn't have, or does it leave room for - she has one
that the scanner doesn't / cannot detect? (sorta like Beta Max
and VHS!)

And if I decide to chip her (under anestheisa cause it hurts
a bit I understand) which is the most widely used and readable
chip/service to use??

Thanks all!

It is my understanding that most shelters have either more than one scanner, or a universal scanner. All my animals have Avid microchips. But I heard something I thought was cool about Home Again. Theirs has a little hole in it where the tissue can grow through it and fuse to it, and is supposed to stay in place better. I don't know if that's true, just hearsay...

When you have her scanned ask what kind of scanner they use. We use Home again, our scanner will detect an Avid chip but cannot read it, so we tell the person to take them to a bigger hospital that has a universal scanner. Not all shelters and vet clinic/hospitals have universal or numerous scanners, but can usually tell you what their scanner/s can detect. That was the big issue with the banfield hospitals and the microchip they chose to use, no one else had a scanner for it.

My resuce kitty has an Avid microchip that she received at the shelter. My other two kitties have HomeAgain microchips which they received from their Vet. My two kitties that have the HomeAgain microchips received them with no anesthesia and they took it fine...no meowing or scratching...

My understanding is that a universal reader can detect and read both Avid and HomeAgain chips, while a basic model Avid or HomeAgain reader can detect the presence of chips of either brand, but can only read chips of its own brand.

I ran across an article a while ago (will try to see if I can find it again) saying that there may be a problem with readers being able to detect the presence of Banfield chips, though.

Ah, here it is:
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jul04/040701a.asp

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Con...=0&SourceID=28

I'd suggest you call your local shelters and find out what kind of scanner they use, to make sure the chip would be compatible.

My animals are chipped with Avid. Our local Humane Society uses HomeAgain, but their scanner is universal and will also read Avid microchips.

Something I came across tonight was called 24HourPetWatch. I was looking online at pet insurance options, and most of the sites I found offered a discount if your pet is microchipped and registered with the 24HourPetWatch site. It's free, and it doesn't matter what brand your chip is.
I'm not really familiar with it, so can't give you much in the way of advice, though.
Does anyone else know of this site?

www.24petwatch.com