Every August 15 is National Check the Chip Day. This is a great reminder to all of us that getting your cat microchipped isn’t the only step in the process in giving her a much better chance of getting home.
Cats have a 20 times higher chance of being returned to their owners after entering an animal shelter if they are microchipped, but just having the microchip isn’t enough. That chip must be readable and the information must be up to date so the call about your kitty can find you. That’s what Check the Chip Day reminds you about.
First Step: Get Chipped
If your kitty isn’t already microchipped, don’t worry, it’s a simple procedure that can be done at your veterinarian’s office. Reduced-cost and sometimes even free microchips are often available at events in your community.
Microchips are a little larger than a grain of rice, and they are implanted under the skin with a large-gauge needle, like getting a vaccination.
Second Step: Get Registered and Keep Contact Information Current
Register your microchip, and keep it up to date if your contact information changes. Sometimes the veterinarian or organization who chips your cat will register your cat for you, but it’s best to follow up and make sure the paperwork got to the chip registry if you aren’t handling it yourself. If you move to a new address or get a new phone number, don’t just tell your friends. Tell the microchip registry, too.
This is important because one of the leading causes of microchipped pets not being able to get home is not being able to find the current contact information for the pet’s home. If you get a microchip implanted in your kitty and then move across the country, your old vet who implanted it may lose touch with you. If your microchip isn’t registered, the last person the microchip company knew had the chip was your old vet, and a call from an animal shelter trying to get your cat home can’t find you. So keep your contact information up to date with the chip registry to be found when your cat needs you most.
Third Step: Check The Chip
Check the chip! Microchips are implanted between the shoulder blades. When Ashton was a bony, little kitten, you could feel the chip, about the size of a big grain of rice, if you scritched her shoulders just right, just past the end of her neck at her shoulders.
In rare cases, a microchip can migrate. Pierre’s chip has migrated about two inches so you can feel it when you rub his shoulder blade. This is unusual enough that when our vet felt it, he called in some vet techs to feel Pierre’s chip so that they would recognize a migrated chip if they felt one.
In rare cases, a microchip can migrate. this doesn’t hurt your cat or dog, but it does mean that if someone passes a microchip scanner over your pet’s shoulders, it may not be be energized by the scanner’s electromagnetic field. This can lead to the microchip not being detected. To be sure this hasn’t happened, ask your veterinarian to scan for your cat’s chip as a part of their routine veterinary exam.
References and further reading:
OSU Research News, Microchips Result in High Rate of Return of Shelter Animals to Owners
AVMA, Microchipping of Animals
Photo Credits:
depositphotos/vetkit
depositphotos/fotoluxstudio
Wikimedia Commons/Joel Mills
depositphotos/ivonnewierink
I know that my chip is up to date, but when I’m at the vet’s for a checkup later in the month, I should have them check to see if it has migrated.
We have had several cats turned into the shelter where I volunteer who had chips, but with out of date information. So important to update, but many people forget.
What a great post! I wish microchips were mandatory, so that more animals could find their way home when lost. I’m so glad you’re bringing attention to this very important topic!
Making sure chip info is updated is so important. People move and forget to do that…making it a little harder for lost kitties to find their way home.
we think vets should scan pets every time they are in the office just to be sure. we have ours do that. Ivy’s chip migrated and is now near her shoulder blade as well. Important info….the updating is so important. From a rescue perspective, it is SO frustrating to get a pet into our rescue, find a microchip, and have no way (or no current information) to contact an owner
.Our vets always check up the microchips when we visit them.
VERY GOOD INFO. JUST LIKE THE HUMANS CHECK THEIR SMOKE ALARM BATTERIES
hUGS MADI YOUR BFFF
Great advice. Thank you!
I wish vets just did this automatically, regardless if they think the cat is chipped or not.
guys….me & sauce getted free chipz ( noe samichez ore cold drinkz tho 🙂
bee fore we leeved de shelter ta come home…we due knead ta chex R contact
info tho…thanx for de ree minder ☺☺☺♥♥♥
tuna of moon
OH yes it is important to have that information up to date. THis is a very good reminder!
Mudpie got her chip at the shelter and I had it checked at her first vet visit. I’ll make sure to do it again when she has her next check-up in the fall!
That really is great advise, seriously! Hey, when my Dad has chips he sometimes shares!
This is good information. My Lady will make sure that my chip is tested at my next vet visit.
Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs, Spike William
Lots of great info. The cats here don’t have microchips, I really don’t believe that if they would go off, that no one could catch them. My Maggie got out one afternoon and I couldn’t catch her. I finally got her in by just opening the back door and she came in on her own. But I do think it is a great idea to do it.
Great reminder. The first time the peeps took me to the vet, they had me microchipped. We have to update my vet info but my home info is up to date.
Excellent post! I am so ashamed that I have never had chips checked after they were put in, I need to do this next appointment as well as finish getting everyone chipped.
This is a very good reminder. Every time we go to the vet, they always check the chip. At first I found it strange, but it definitely makes sense. Sometimes I wonder if they do it to make sure you’re bringing the right cat in. But they just said they want to make sure it’s working.
Good reminder! We are all chipped, but TBT realized our email addresses are out-of-date! He needs to pay some small fees to update that. The phone number is stillcorrect, so it should be OK, but best to get everything fixed.
Be sure ta come ta my 6th Birfday Pawty tomorrow 16th! It may be our best yet… ~ MARLEY
Great reminder, and very impawtant information ! Purrs
GOOD reminder!!