I’ve recently been involved in a battle with a couple companies who provide microchips, microchip scanners, and pet registry services and thought I’d pass on some interesting facts that folks should consider prior to having a microchip implanted in their pets.  There have been incompatibility issues between products from various companies for years, and its still ongoing.

There are three microchip frequencies (125 kHz, 128 kHz, and 134.2 kHz) being sold in the U.S. today by several different manufacturers.  Some microchips are encrypted and some are not.  There are several different scanner manufacturers who claim their scanners are “universal” and can detect all three frequencies.  Some also state they can read the encrypted chips.

I recently had a microchip put into my dog at my vets office.  I thought I did my homework prior to having this done.  Based on my research, the microchip my vet uses is supposed to be detected by all universal scanners.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  After several failed attempts in detecting the microchip with the “highest rated” universal scanner, I contacted the vet, the microchip supplier, and the scanner supplier.  Of course all I got for the last several weeks was finger pointing with no clear answers.  The only scanner that works with this microchip is the one at my vets office.  Of course these microchips and this scanner are supplied by the same company who also pre-registers their microchips in their own database registry.

Over the last few weeks, this is what I learned:

1.  Incompatibility issues between microchips and scanners is still a very real issue that has not been resolved in all these years.

2.  Not all universal scanners read all the various chips as advertised by the companies who sell them.

3.  There are various claims between the companies such as “there are microchips on the market that are out of specification”, and “there are scanners that require software upgrades to work as intended”.

4.  Unless the scanner you are using is compatible with the microchip that is in your animal it will not be detected.

4.  Not all towns and animal control officers have universal scanners, and the people I spoke to do not have a high opinion of the reliability of the microchips or the scanners.

5.  Since there are multiple database registry’s, even if your pet was scanned successfully for someone to identify your pet and find your contact information, they would need to contact the correct registry and the information on file would need to be accurate.

In speaking with people over the last several weeks, it seems to me that many of us assumed if we had a microchip implanted in our pet it would be detected by a “universal scanner”.  I’m sure many do work as intended, but not in my case.  I believe microchips have a purpose and if it all worked as it should, this would probably be a good thing.  I want to make sure people understand these microchips as well as the scanners have issues and unless the person scanning has a compatible scanner, the microchip will go undetected.

I suggest you do your homework before having a microchip implanted in your pet.  You should consider your purpose for doing so and then research to be sure the scanner that is likely to be the one used on your pet, is in fact compatible (not just by the information provided on the company website, but through physical evidence).  In addition, consider the other risks associated with implanting a foreign object in the body and determine if this is right for you and your pet.