Thoughts on Microchipping...?

[Kate]

Is your dog microchipped?

My little guy is due to get microchipped this week, and even though I think microchipping is in general a great idea, I'm just a touch nervous b/c I have read some articles that suggest sarcomas are possible at the microchip site...certainly not the norm by any stretch, but...?

What are your thoughts and experiences with this?

[Christine & Camus]

My vote?  Microchip is the way to go.  Nietzsche was a doodle "jumper" and I found out the hard way.  He jumped a 6 foot chain link fence!  Luckily a man picked him up (more than three miles away) and took him to a vet. They scanned for a chip and I got a phone call to let me know they had my dog.  My first response was No Way, I have a 6 foot fence surrounding my yard.  Like I said he was a doodle jumper.  I had Camus chipped the first week I had him.  Better safe.

[Kate]

Thanks Christine. Wow that is QUITE the jumper. You aren't kidding. You poor thing but thank God he was okay! I think what it is...is that my last dog was 12 years old and loyal as the day was long, wouldn't leave my side. But that's b/c he was my companion for 12 years! I have to remember I am getting a puppy now! And all the nuances that go along with puppies! Microchipping is definitely the way to go! Thanks again for sharing. :-) 

[Jennifer and "Cooper"]

I have always had my dogs microchipped because although you hope it never happens, they may get loose someday.   I would make sure to wait and do it when the puppy is a few months old though and this is just my opinion from personal experience.  The breeder we got Cooper from had him microchipped when he was 6 weeks old and her vet implanted it in the usual place.  When Cooper was about 4 months old I was brushing him and petting him and I found a bump on his ribcage near his front leg "armpit."  As I investigated it more, it wasn't painful to him but it felt like a large piece of rice under his skin.  Well that's how the size of microchips are described-as large pieces of rice.  I took him to the vet and explained that I thought his microchip had migrated and the vet said "That would be very rare."  To which I replied, "Maybe.  But I am that person that has all the stuff happen to them that never happens to anyone else.  And I don't mean winnning the lottery."  The vet got out the microchip scanner and scanned Cooper's neck/shoulder area where the chip had originally been implanted and nothing showed up on the screen.  Then he started moving it down Cooper's side and when he got to the area of the bump, the microchip number showed up on the screen.  He called the vet that had implanted it and that vet said that he has had quite a few young puppies that have had that problem but said it shouldn't be a big deal.  (Well, I guess as long as Cooper never got lost it wouldn't have been a big deal but unless whoever found him thought to scan his armpit, they would have never known he had a microchip!)  My vet said that since we didn't know where the microchip would end up, it would be best to keep an eye on it and then have it surgically removed when he was already there for his neuter surgery.   So when he was 6 months old they surgically removed the first microchip and they implanted a second microchip in the proper area. 

Like I said, things that don't happen to others happen to me so hopefully I had just had the odd ball experience. The other 4 dogs I've had microchipped over the past 14 years never had problems but they were all at least 4 months old when they had the microchips put in.

Just a recommendation to all: I now have the vet scan each of my dogs at least once a year when I am there to make sure that the microchips are where they are supposed to be.  

[Kate]

That is too bad, Jennifer. I totally agree with you on would a vet even attempt to scan the whole body for the chip, or just between the shoulder blades?

I am waiting to talk to my breeder today about it. I'll see what her opinion is, but he is supposed to get it done this week (4 weeks old).

I hear you on the weird luck stuff...my Haus had 2 back surgeries on the same spot during his life, and had 2 of his parathyroids removed!

Thanks so much for sharing your valuable feedback!

[Leslie J]

This is so interesting.  Cocoa was also microchipped at 6 weeks, but when we brought her home and had the vet check her out (at 8 weeks) he couldn't find the microchip anywhere!  When I called the breeder she said another puppy in the litter also had a missing microchip.  I always assumed it somehow fell out, but your post is making me wonder if the chip is floating around her body somewhere!!!  I'm going to check her out carefully...

[Kate]

I have heard this a lot now - that when the chip is put in when they are young, many times it will move.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I chipped both of my guys....my Vet feels it is a safe procedure with important benefits.

[Kate]

Thanks Jane!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Chip!

[Kate]

OK! :-)

[Rose Ann and Amante]

Chip!! I have a friend who was able to prove her dog was hers thanks to the chip!!!

[Kate]

Yes, it certainly makes sense to chip!