Microchipping is a great tool to help reunite you with a lost pet. However, the technology isn’t foolproof and it’s far from perfect.
Here’s how it works: if a pet is picked up by animal control or taken to an animal shelter, the staff there will scan the animal for a microchip. The chip reflects the signal from the scanner with a special alphanumeric (using both letters and numbers) code. That code is matched up with your name and contact information, and you can be reunited with your missing pet!
Here’s the problem: microchips implanted in 2003 or earlier can all be read by the same type of scanner. After 2003, manufacturers started using different scanning technology — not all shelters and veterinarians have the equipment to read all the different types of chip out there. There isn’t a universal scanner that will read all the different microchips; a scanner from one company may not read the microchips from another manufacturer. And not all companies provide free scanners to shelters! That means a shelter that can’t afford to buy more than one scanner may not be able to scan and read the information for every lost pet.
The only way to know if your pet’s microchip will be readable by your local shelter is to ask. If they don’t have the right scanner, you can contact your chip manufacturer and ask them to send a scanner to your local animal shelter free of charge.
The Humane Society of the United States is trying to get all the microchip manufacturers to develop a universal scanner for shelters to use. So far, the companies have not agreed on sharing technology to create a universal scanner.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t microchip your pet! A microchip is an important way to help a lost pet get back to you. The chips typically last twenty five years or more and don’t need replacing. Don’t forget to keep identification tags on your pet at all times — with tags and a microchip, you have a much better chance of being reunited with your pet if he or she gets lost.