More on microchips!

I have long been an advocate of having dogs microchipped, ever since our Lab Pippin bolted in the woods 15 miles from home when the dogs in a nearby kennel began barking. She was only 11 months old at the time. She finally flung herself at my legs seven hours later, a hot, breathless and exhausted but very relieved dog. Whenever the nasty thought sprang into my mind that she might have been taken by someone, I reassured myself that she had been microchipped so that, even if her collar was removed or just the dog disc on it, I would always be able to prove ownership.

Twice I have been followed back down our lane from a walk by a dog. The worry was that our house is only three houses in from the main road… The first dog was a golden retriever some years ago. He was wearing a collar with a dog disc but the engraving had rubbed and was illegible. In the end, I had to call the dog warden, whose first action was to scan for a microchip – none. If there had been, he would have driven round to the address. As it was, he had no option but to take the dog away in his van to be kennelled until his owners claimed him (hopefully).

The second time was this week, a young dog who, again, was wearing a collar but this time no form of identification at all on it. He was very keen to stay with me which posed me a worry but, fortunately, his owner appeared. I suggested that a dog disc would have been a good idea, so that I would have known where to return him (and also a legal requirement). That was like water off a duck’s back – instead, she assured me that he was booked to be microchipped, in four weeks’ time! Great to hear that, but no use to me without a scanner, and no use with a scanner for another four weeks!

As an aside, I would also like to emphasise the importance of having cats microchipped. I know that this is the Dogs Today Think Tank, but many dogs live with cats so this does apply to many households. Whenever I see a still body on the road or on the verge beside a road, I pull over if I can to retrieve it and take it in to the practice. Only once have I found a microchip so that I could contact the owners – they were, understandably, very upset but, at the same time, relieved to be able to stop searching and worrying.

Cats do also stray and, again, a microchip does make the matter of reuniting them with their owners so much easier. A cat was brought in to me in December one year which had been living with a couple near the hospital for two months. They had leafleted all their neighbours and put up notices in the local shops, but no-one had come forward to claim him. They decided it was time to have him vaccinated. I said that I ought to just check he did not have a microchip and nonchalantly passed the scanner over him, not expecting it to ‘ping’ because I have scanned so many stray cats without finding a chip.

This time, however, there was a chip and, to my amazement, not only had we as a practice implanted it but also the address registered against it was just round the corner from my home. Interestingly, his owners would not have seen the publicity about him because we live in the next village, and this cat had travelled along a main road which passes under the A12, then in to the suburbs before ending up near the hospital!

This also brings me to my final point. There was only a mobile telephone number logged against the microchip and, when I rang it, there was a recorded message to say that the number was no longer in use! I took it upon myself to call round at the house on my way home, thinking that they may well have moved away which could have explained why the cat had wandered so far. In fact, I made their Christmas! They were thrilled at the thought of having him home. The mobile telephone, it transpired, had been discarded because it broke, and they had forgotten to amend the contact details for their cat’s microchip record. So, please keep your details up-to-date.

Alison Logan, vet