Micro Chip Question

[Lilie]

A co-worker found a Siberian Husky. He took it to his vet on Saturday to see if it was micro chipped. When the vet scanned it, it did show to have a chip, but it only showed the manufacture of the chip. No other additional information.

Could that mean the chip is registered with a company (or registry) that isn't registered with everyone?

[msvette2u]

It means it was never registered (by the owner), but it should show where the chip originated, that is, who bought it. Usually it'll come back to a Humane Society or a vet clinic. Or you may get lucky and it was purchased by a breeder in which case you could trace who purchased the dog.

[Lilie]

Hmmm. I'll have to ask him. He said the only information on it was the manufacture. Could be he (the vet) was confused by the name of the manufacture. I'll see what I can find out.

Thanks!!!!

[msvette2u]

Well, if we chip one of our dogs, or a better example, if we chip a friend's dog, and they do not register the chip into their name, when the dog is scanned, it'll say the dog has a 24petwatch chip, and it (the chip) was purchased by our rescue on such-and-such date.

That's all the info they'll have so they'll call us and ask if we have a record of what dog got that chip.
We do keep in-house records of all chips now, we used to keep only records of what dogs got adopted out with chips. It made it tough one day when the clinic called about a dog with a chip of ours and that dog did not look at all familiar to me. We finally figured out it was one of my husband's co-workers, and she got her dog back and I learned an important lesson about keeping tabs on the chips we send to even friends who need a chip.

I now either register the chip myself to the owner, and/or keep track of the number here at the very least.

[Lilie]

Great idea. I'll ask him about it. He said the dog acts very young and the vet said he was between 1 and 2. So hopefully the records are still fresh on 'someone's' mind.

[msvette2u]

Call the chip company and they'll have a record of who purchased the batch of chips that chip went out in.

[Lilie]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

Call the chip company and they'll have a record of who purchased the batch of chips that chip went out in.

Another great idea! Will do!

[msvette2u]

At the very least you can trace the chip to the purchaser of the batch of chips.
We get dogs in rescue like this, chipped but the dog owner never registered.

[Lilie]

That's crazy. What is the purpose of the chip then?

[msvette2u]

Well we like them so in case the owner cannot be reached at all, or moved/changed phone numbers, etc. the dog will be returned to us.
We've had it happen a few times now. As mentioned, we now register the dog(s) to the new owner(s) upon adoption, and I've started doing it when we give them to friends as well, due to just people overlooking the registration.

And the registration is the most important part. A chip without reg. is just a number but as mentioned you can trace back to the original purchaser of the chip, which sometimes does help find owners. At least tells you where the dog originated, back to when the chip was implanted anyway.
We've gotten in dogs from puppy mills and some mills or brokers chip which is how we traced them that far.