Microchipping your Dog

Microchipping is the latest technology in permanently identifying your pet. It is an excellent way of matching an animal to it's owner.

The size of a grain of rice, the chip is placed beneath the skin (see chart below for location in each species) by needle application either consciously or whilst the animal is already under anaesthetic.

The chip itself is cased in a special container which is designed to not have any toxic effects on the body, it is airtight preventing any moisture entering it and has an anti-migratory structure which means it will not move around the body.
Animals are not physically or behaviourally affected by the chip and it is only in rare circumstances that there is a reaction. The chip is a passive device that does not act until a microchip scanner is passed over it, at this point the chip is ‘read’. Each chip has an individual number, which is logged along with all your contact details and stored on a national database.

If your pet is missing it can be a very worrying time. If your pet is picked up and taken to the authorities it will be routinely scanned for a microchip. The database is contacted and the chip number given, allowing your details to be accessed and used to reunite you and your pet.

If you are thinking about taking your pet abroad with you then a microchip will be necessary as the UK Government choose microchipping as the means of identifying your pet under the PET Passport Scheme. It is used as proof that each vaccination record corresponds to the correct animal.

IdENTICHIP® manufactured by Animalcare and Tracer® Advance manufactured by Bayer are two of the microchips available.

There are two types of IdENTICHIP®, which are the Standard and Bio-Thermo®. The benefit of the Bio-Thermo®. chip is that it also includes a thermometer, which reads your pet's body temperature when scanned. This saves a rectal thermometer being used during routine health checks and reduces stress for all involved!

The IdENTICHIP® holds the electronic chip in a soda lime glass case where as the Tracer®is encapsulated in a bio-polymer non-glass material which is claimed to be stronger and lighter than the IdENTICHIP®.

Species Location of chip

Dogs and cats: In the scruff of the neck between the shoulder blades