When it comes to keeping your pet healthy, you and your vet are an all-star team. You have the chance to become an MPVO, or Most Valuable Pet Owner, in addition to being one of the team’s most valuable players. How do you manage that? Ask questions and seek answers from trustworthy sources of information, such as your veterinarian, their staff, and the pages on this website, to educate yourself on proper pet care and pet health issues.
Recognize the advantages of microchipping.
Learn how microchips operate and why it’s crucial to maintain the accuracy of your chip’s registration.
A ticket home for animals that become separated from their owners is accurate identification.
A hypodermic needle is used to insert a microchip under the skin of an animal, which is similar to giving it a
shot. A microchip is a very little device, about the size of a grain of rice. A database’s contact information for the owner can be matched with the microchip’s distinctive identifying number. The number is displayed when a scanner is moved over the chip. The owner can be found immediately if the microchip database’s contact information is current.
Permanent animal identification might be difficult. When they are present on an animal when it goes missing, identifying tags are a significant and reliable method of identification. Microchips may be particularly useful for animals that don’t wear collars or can remove them readily. Microchips offer a trustworthy and frequently less unpleasant way to permanently and irreversibly identify an animal.
The AVMA supports implanting electronic identification in companion animals, although microchips cannot take the place of an animal’s adequate visible identity. Pets with microchips should also have collars with the appropriate identification. A thorough pet identification program should include license tags, rabies tags, and personal visual identification.
How they operate frequency and types of animal microchips
A capacitor, an antenna, a connecting wire, and a covering are the four parts that make up a microchip. To try to keep them from moving after implanted, they are encased in biocompatible glass or polymer and covered by a sheath. They are battery-free.
Scanners generate a low-power radiofrequency signal that turns on microchips. The antenna produces energy using electromagnetic induction, which then sends the data from the microchip. The microchip emits a special, preprogrammed identifying number when it is scanned. Additionally, certain microchips record and send information about body temperature.
It is simpler to find a microchip that has been implanted when conventional microchip implantation sites are used. In order to maximize the success of microchip implants, veterinarians are aware of the best locations.
Numerous companies develop microchips, and there is no accepted “American standard” for their frequencies. The International Standards Organization (ISO) standards for microchips are supported by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), American Animal Hospital Association, World Small Animal Veterinary Association, American Kennel Club, and numerous other organizations. These groups also support the use of electronic identification in animals.
The ISO requirements for microchips are also supported by the American National requirements Institute, but both ISO-compliant and non-ISO-compliant microchips are utilized in the US. The ISO standard mandates that each microchip be given a 15-digit numeric identification code. Microchips that are not ISO (125 or 128 kHz) have nine or ten digits. Update your microchip registration information!
Accurate contact information must be linked to the microchip in order to reunite missing animals with their owners. The microchip just has a registration number on it. Owners of animals are required to register the microchips in their animals and update their contact information in the registration database. Even if its microchip is scanned, a lost animal may not be returned to its owner if the database does not have accurate contact information.
Check the Chip Day, observed annually on August 15, encourages all pet owners to check and update the contact information listed on their pets’ microchips. The Universal Pet Microchip Lookup Tool from the American Animal Hospital Association enables users to enter a microchip code and then links them to participating microchip registries related to that microchip and its manufacturer.
During their routine preventive care examinations, microchipped animals should have their chips scanned to ensure that they are still in good working order. Hopefully your pet will not ever be too far from home but this is an extra bit of help in reuniting lost pets back to their families!