Microchipping pets?

sgmallen

I have now had my cat returned to me safely and am considering the possibility of having her microchipped. Has anybody had this done to their pet, and if so I would be grateful if you could tell me a bit more about it! For example, how is the microchip inserted? And does it hurt the animal much?

Thanks very much!

jay567

Hi,
Got my 2 dogs chipped when i got them. Its a tiny chip that gets inserted under the skin via a needle. It wont hurt anymore than a reg injection. It works like a super market scanner. Ur pet gets lost shows up in a pound, the pound will scan the animal. The scan will show a serial number, they ring the company that provides the chips nationaly and they put the serial number into a computer which then shows ur address.
Hope it helps.

Must say its a great idea and well worth getting done.

Garibaldi

So, how do you get your pet chipped? I'm about to pick up my first German Shepherd, and would be very interested in getting this done. Who does it and how much does it cost? Are there any recurring charges from the chip provider, such as for maintaining their database etc?

jay567

Most vets will provide the service. Think its around 38 - 42 euro. Its a once off payment and ur pets safe.

Chiped pet = Pet goes missing, highly likley u get a call
Non Chipped = Pet goes missing, u jump in the car and drive around for a few days trying to find them.

If u are ever going to travel abroad with ur pet, they need the chip!

Good luck with the new german shepard, got one myself. Very cleaver.

Garibaldi

Cheers, Jay. I reckon I'll definitely go with that, so.

Nala

As and from January 2006,all puppies born that require IKC registration will have to be microchipped first, which is a great idea.

sgmallen

Just to let you know, I got onto my vet at Gilabbey Vetinary Hospital and they said it costs €60 to get it done there and it is the same procedure as a regular injection as the microchip is so small (bout the size of a grain of rice they said!) and it shouldn't hurt more than a regular injection. They are sending me out a leftlet on it so if I find anything else out I'll let you know!

jay567

60 Sounds alot, unless its doubled in the last 3 yrs. humm try shopping around, id be suprised if u dont get it cheaper.

Jip

Nala wrote:

As and from January 2006,all puppies born that require IKC registration will have to be microchipped first, which is a great idea.

And I think at the moment if you want to change ownership of an already registered animal you have to supply the chip number.

Alun

Ours cost €40 back in December 2004, but we got a small discount as we were getting two cats done at the same time.

Sigma Force

Shop around for it, the most you should really have to pay is about 50, I payed 40 or 45 for my dogs chips.
They sometimes flinch when they are chipped but it's very quick and then they just scan the chip to make sure it's working.

Some rescues in the Dublin area now offer microchipping I think for about 40 or 45 euro...although not 100% sure if it's in place yet.

sgmallen

Thanks for that. I will certainly ask around to see various prices!

Garibaldi

I asked a lady from the ISPCA about these chips. She says that there are different providers, with different serial numbers so, even if a lost dog has their chip checked (which, apparently, is by no means guaranteed), there may not be a match, depending on who/where the chip is checked by. Is this just another example of frustrating Irish administration, or is it a Europe-wide problem? In some ways, I hope it's just Irish. :rolleyes:

Alun

Garibaldi wrote:

I asked a lady from the ISPCA about these chips. She says that there are different providers, with different serial numbers so, even if a lost dog has their chip checked (which, apparently, is by no means guaranteed), there may not be a match, depending on who/where the chip is checked by. Is this just another example of frustrating Irish administration, or is it a Europe-wide problem? In some ways, I hope it's just Irish. :rolleyes:

From a bit of Googling it is apparent that the whole thing is indeed a bit of a mess. There is an organisation that is trying to tie all these various national and manufacturer databases together called EuroPetnet (www.europetnet.com), but entering our cats' chip numbers came up with no answer. The chip is a common sort, Indexel manfactured by Merial, and they're supposedly registered with Ani-Mark in Blackrock which seems to be the main one here in Ireland as far as I can tell, and should be one of the first to be tried. They don't have a website that I can find (typical!) so I can't check there either.

crazymonkey

the ispca done my yorkie last month for E20, at that price its worth geting it done, petzone or europet i think its reg with (must check that).

crazymonkey

Nala wrote:

As and from January 2006,all puppies born that require IKC registration will have to be microchipped first, which is a great idea.

was just going to say, that

there is also talk of pet passports coming out,

Alun

crazymonkey wrote:

there is also talk of pet passports coming out,

Talk? They've been available since last July !!!!!

See http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/index.jsp?file=pets/index.xml for more information.

Our man in Havana

When you get your dog or cat chipped - please put a tag on a collar saying I am microchipped - its also good to put neutered as well - even if they are not just to stop thieves stealing your pet.

Also as far as I know not all pounds will scan pets so a tag will let them know to scan the pet etc.