Around a million pets go missing in the UK alone every year

To chip or not to chip that is the question, to which many of us are still undecided. Be it  simply because we do not know enough information, or that we hear various stories that put us off. Well here, I hope to provide you with the information you need to make your decision easier.

Microchip technology for animal identification was first introduced in the 1980’s and has developed over the years into the injectable chip or transponder used today. Veterinary surgeons, animal welfare groups, animal wardens and conservationists now routinely use microchips worldwide to identify animals of all kinds of species.

Each year people like Pet-ID and animal charities  try to promote the necessity of pet microchipping, yet still, in the year 2008, most animals held in rescue shelters are strays, found with no form of identification and no way of knowing who they belong to.

About 10% of strays are put to sleep because their owners could not be traced or it could not be re-homed. 

The implant procedure is painless and takes a matter of minutes, just like a typical vaccination, but unlike vaccinations it does not have to be a vet that carries out the task.

(There are plenty of fully trained registered implanters across the country) 

The chip is coated with Parylene C’, an anti-migratory agent that reduces the risk of the chip moving around the body, the same agent is used on human pacemakers. It forms an irregular surface, which allows the tissue fibres within the animal to bond and hold it in place. It is placed along the neck in-between the shoulder blades, which then act as a cradle and nurse the chip while it goes through the bonding process.  The chip is no bigger than a grain of rice and is totally passive, it is not until it is scanned that it becomes active. Each pet microchipped is given it’s own unique number and lifetime registration with Petlog (The Kennel Club Database), this is also linked to the European Pet Network.

   A pet microchip provides irrefutable proof of identification,

without any form of scarring or disfigurement.

     Give your pet a microchip…….    

………You’d be lost without them