Cat chip scanner for home use

[Gymnopedie]

Does anyone have any experience of these? I have managed to acquire not one but two strays, and one of them I have absolutely no chance of getting to a vet. It's a pedigree, either maine coon or Siberian I'm not sure, and surely must be chipped but it refuses to come in the house or let me catch it. It will however sit very close to me outside while I feed it. The other seems to be a very recent stray, knows exactly what a pouch is and would clearly like to come in and be adopted (but is aggressive with my cat so no can do). I'm thinking the expenditure on a scanner would be worth it to at least find out if they're chipped before I wrestle them to a vet.

Do the scanners work, and what information do they give?

TIA

What makes you think they are strays and not just cats out on their daily exploring?

Far too many people these days see a cat outdoors and assume it’s a stray, then end up grabbing it. Leave the cats alone, put food out if you want but stop trying to get it into your home, they likely both have owners who are sick of people trying to steal their cat.

I agree with the above poster. The cats probably already have perfectly good homes.
We have a black cat that keeps coming in to our house and eating our cat's food. They fight in the garden sometimes too. It hasn't crossed my mind to take it to a vet in case it's a stray. Most cats roam, and most cats have homes.

Your local cat charity (eg Cats Protection) will have a scanner and will loan it to you/send someone out. If you make a note of the number /photograph it, they can look on the database for owner details. You won’t be able to look at the database, you have to be authorised to do so ie GDPR. Go on your local FB page or Lost & Found pets to find one in your community

We had a similar situation and bought a cheap scanner from Amazon - although if you can borrow one for free that’s probably better! The scanner shows the chip number. You can then phone your vet and they can look it up and see if the chip is registered and details up to date etc. If needed they can contact the cat’s owners. They won’t give you any details though.
We weren’t trying to steal any cats - like you we have a cat and he hates other cats. We were just worried about one in particular and wanted to assure ourselves it was, or would be okay. Microchip scanner - Amazon