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

If you get a scanner all it will tell you is whether it's chipped and the number as you need access to the database to see who the number is linked to. So only vets and possibly some rescues will have access.

Do you have Gizmo's Legacy in your area? Or ScanAngels?

They work but they only tell you if the cat is chipped, it won’t give you any more details.

Thank you for the info. I can't find out much about Gizmo's Legacy but there's a Scan Angel five minutes drive away. Do the Angels have access to the database? The website suggests that they do as they talk about reuniting pets with their owners quickly.

I think I'm going to buy a scanner for myself - they're not expensive - to answer the question of whether or not they're chipped. If they are I'll arrange for their owners to be contacted, either through the Angel or a vet. If they're not chipped then I'll work out what to do with them. In that case I'd love to keep both but I can't and I know the local rescues are all full. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it if I have to.

Yes i got one as had few strays around. The chip number comes up but also goes off quickly so I had my phone camera ready and took a picture of the number rather than having to redo again and scare the cats
I have contact with people that work with rescue & rehoming cats so I text them the picture of the number and they let me know if its owned / local cat but do not give you the details which is fine.
if it was hurt or registeted lost or something they contact the owner as well.

Thank you for the tip, I will be prepared with my phone.

Good luck, and hopefully they are both chipped but lost so they can be reunited ❤

Sadly neither of them are chipped. What's the point of a law that says they have to be chipped if it can be ignored so easily? The Nextdoor app is full of stray cats that aren't. Now I have some hard thinking to do.

You don't need to do anything, surely? Most cats aren't strays and have happy homes.

Cats have to be microchipped now if owned. The law was passed this year and is very clear. If the cat doesn't have a chip then one has to assume they have a bad home, been lost or abandoned or is feral and needs to be TNR at the very least. The picture that's emerging from rescues is that a non chipped cat tends not to be neutered either which is the bigger issue.

No advice @Gymnopedie. I had this problem and the first cat went to CP, my second went to a local rescue as CP was full. The third stayed with me as everywhere was full despite me not actually wanting a cat. The other options were pts or leave her injured and starving and unneutered with toms already sniffing around her. Do you think your two are neutered at least?