Micro chipping dogs should be compulsary

[kid]

Well I think it should be anyway!
Someone I know found a dog recently and the dog doesn't have a micro chip. It appears to be a well looked after dog as it is fat, has healthy looking fur and is very friendly with people, children and other dogs.

Its such a shame that a family may be missing their dog right now, but if the dog had a micro chip, it could be back home where it belongs.

Completely agree.

I found a little black and white cat years ago that had been run over on a busy road.It actually died as I held it.
There was a vet nearby so I took it there but it had no chip.
And the vet said, you can't really put a sign up saying 'black and white cat found'

So it never went home.

Agree, agree, agree! It's not even that expensive to do. We offer it half price with vaccination/ boosters/ neutering. Both mine are chipped, and I have reunited lots of chipped pets and owners

Only problem is some people finding a pet don't think to get it checked for a chip. I saw a cat once that the owners had had for c. 6mths, came in for a check over and I found a chip! (that was awkward)

I had mine chipped as I thought they were so gorgeous someone might want to steal them! Now I know anyone who stole them would be phoning to give them back within a day, but still a good idea...

NI will have compulsory chipping for pet dogs from next April. The other UK administrations are looking at this. Wales has dog breeding legislation out to consultation at the moment (AGAIN) - this initially proposed that all puppies and breeding bitches should be chipped. However, a number of organisations including LAs, Kennel Club, dog welfare charities, rescues, pretty much everyone actually is saying Go Further and make it compulsory for all dogs. I think it's a no-brainer.

Latest figs I've seen suggest around 40% of dogs are now chipped but the %age is steadily rising. Our local Council provides free chipping for any dog - massive Gold Star for that - and even our PAH often does deals for doing it for £10 - I really don't think cost is a barrier.

I can't even remember how much I paid to have my dog micro chipped. There was never any doubt about not getting him chipped. H
e also a tag on his old collar but I accidentally threw the old collar away and forget to take the tag off. Better get another one I suppose.
The thought of being without my dog is heart breaking which is why I got him chipped at the first opportunity.

Chips fail, chips migrate, chips provoke terrible reactions in some dogs. A person I know from a dog club lost a 7 month old puppy to microchipping. He would not chip any more dogs ever (although I think he tatoos the id).

Microchipping is not a panacea and nobody should be forced into it. My dog and two of my cats are chipped, but I am against compulsory element to the legislation.

I'm just thinking of a family missing their dog for at least the second night as there is no way for us to contact them at the moment.

I can understand the person you know not being able to chip another dog after losing their other dog. My 7 month old pup died on the operating table when he went to be nuetered. As a result, I'll never get another dog nuetered.

As a greyhound owner, it is sadly a regular occurrence for ex racers to be found dumped without their ears [hangry] as this removes tattoo ID. Collars and tags can be easily lost. Chipping is now compulsory when you get a pet passport, when dogs are docked, for dogs who are subject to DDA controls etc.

BSAVA hosts the Microchip Advisory Group - all and any adverse reactions should be referred to them.

I am very, very sorry to hear about your friend's pup - what exactly happened?

All the dog welfare people i know are very much pro chipping - even people with widely differing views on things like vaccination for instance. It's also very rare to get groups as disparate as the Kennel Club, animal welfare charities, local authorities, vets' professional bodies etc to be pretty much united on a single issue. For instance pretty much every charity and rescue insists on chipping as part of a rehoming package. Charities don't do this lightly and most animal welfare volunteers are active because we care about animals passionately - I suspect if there was any convincing evidence that chipping was dangerous, we'd stop doing it in a heartbeat.

However, I would welcome the compulsory element of training to administer a chip - most reputable rescues would.

We can also talk about hte many, many lives saved by chipping when dogs stray. Sadly also when a dog has strayed and has been knocked over on the road, scanning a dead dog can be a way for a grieving owner to find some peace of mind. Yes, it's not a golden bullet but it goes a long way to solving a number of issues.

I don't know exactly what happened, this person is a very well known labrador trainer and a rescuer. I do not think it is all as unanimous as you would like to present here.

Don't forget also that chips can be removed just like dogs ears can be cut off. Where is the will and all that.

By all means promote and advocate microchipping, but why all the nannying? Again, I have my dog and two cats chipped, but I oppose to the compulsory element to the legislation.

Oh, yeah. Tatoos can be visible to ANYONE with reasonable vision. No special equipment necessary. Even if blurred a pet can be identified from a national register by reporting "1-2-3-blur-9-blur' black labrador bitch".
It is also a well known fact in rescue community that councils don't always have either the working equipment or willing stuff to scan dogs that come to LA pounds.

And lastly, how many times did you take your dog to a new vet and not only they scanned it, but also confirmed the ownership? I had to take mine once whilst on holiday and no, nobody bothered.

Can't people tell I have a bad case of insomnia? I am 5w pg and spotting. Worried sick...

bemybebe are you ok? x

bemy you ok?

Spotting is quite common in early pregnancy. I had it at 5 weeks with dd but then went on to have a very healthy pregnancy.
Is there somewhere you can go today to get it checked out?

ok this morning, all stopped. will be scanned on the 2nd. my baby died at 3 weeks in june and i am worried sick that this pg may be going to same way. i am a wreck

regarding the chips etc: i already mentioned that my dog is already chipped, writing here last night made me think it would be good for her to get a tatoo... will discuss with dh. apparently statistically a dog is very likely not to be taken in the first place but even if taken , released within 20miles.

"apparently statistically a dog is very likely not to be taken in the first place but even if taken , released within 20miles"...if tatooed.

glad it stopped
I hav to confess having never heard of tatoos, I mean obviously I have heard of tatoos as I have several but you know what I mean.

Dita, it is the main method of ID for racing greyhounds in the UK. There are conventions about numbers used, to signify birth year, for instance and which ear is tattooed. UK dogs have one ear done, Irish dogs have both. Once done, tattoo is entered on a register and you can then look up the dog's breeding and race history. We actually found doing this that our third dog is our first dog's great uncle once removed (I get a bit confused with family trees) [hblush] On GBGB tracks in UK, you cannot race a dog without a tattoo and registration. Sadly, on "flapping" tracks (like we have here in Wales) this is not necessary, but many owners do still tattoo as it is a handy way of ID-ing dogs. Less likely to register details though. So for instance, we have one English dog who has an ear tattoo in one ear, one Irish registered dog who has tats in both, and a Welsh dog who has one tat but this doesn't appear on the database, though we can tell her birth year (due to the convention).

bemybebe I had a huuuge bleed at 5 weeks - lil blighter was still resident with a heartbeat when they scanned me (and finally found it since it had picked the arse end of nowhere uterusly speaking to hole up in).

Can't read Nancy's tattoos at all - need to get her chipped, haven't got round to doing so yet because we've had the worst financial start to the academic year ever in terms of my supply work - once other mutt's boosters are done and paid for next month, microchipping is next thing on the list.

I know of people whose dogs have microchips that have worked their way to their groin and all sorts of ridiculous places though - it's not 100%.

You haven't got any of the Honcho descendants have you Scuttle? We worked out that the other greyhound at our training class is related to Nancy - which had the trainer scratching her head at how we'd figured that one out!

Scuttle I have heard of greyhounds having their ears removed, sometimes prior to being dumped to stray or killed.

But I read that some have their tatoos on their inner thigh where the fur is sparse to avoid this .

Lord, I've also heard of inner leg tats for non grund ID, but convention for greys is to continue with ear, certainly all the ones I see. Most greyhound charities also in favour of chipping as this provides an extra layer of ID, and thus takes away most of the incentive for ear removal.

there are some seriously evil bastards int his world.
wouldnt someone finding a dog scan the whole of the dog though if there was no chip in the right bit?

Dita, you are thinking far too logically!! Yes, in theory, scanner should be held close to dog, and gently rotated over shoulders first then over other parts of the body. In other parts of Europe chips are routinely placed in the neck area, not the shoulders so it's important to check this too. However, quite often scanners are held too far away, or scanning is rushed. To be fair, if DW is scanning a wriggly, stressed stray, this is not always an easy job. Often, chip will be present, but scanner will not be powerful enough, or is held too far away. Rotational scanning will also pick up more chips as that way you are catching ones that may have changed orientation.