Out of date pet microchips causing large increase in stray pets
Out of date pet microchips causing large increase in stray pets
Vets Now, is urging people who are moving homes to ensure that updating their pet's microchip is on their "to do" list, following the admission of a higher than normal number of stray animals to its clinics.
Vets Now has 33 Out of Hours emergency clinics across the UK and has seen a rise in the number of strays being brought to clinics over the festive season, often with out of date contact information for owners on the pet's microchip.
Thousands of pets are lost or stolen every year; however many more could be reunited with their owners if the microchip was up to date.
Anyone embarking on a house move will no doubt have a never ending "to do" list; however it's important to ensure that ‘updating the pet's microchip' is right up there along with ‘booking a removal'! Recently, the Vets Now clinic in Telford admitted a stray dog who had been found scratched and bleeding after apparently being hit by a car. Bayley, a Staffordshire bull terrier had been brought in by a member of the public with minor injuries. The dog had a collar and a microchip; however, the Vets Now senior vet Karen Booth was unable to contact the owners with the details on the microchip and suspected that the owners had moved house and that the microchip had not been updated. Despite ongoing attempts to contact the owner, Karen contacted the local newspaper who ran the article about Bayley and his owners were fortunately traced. This had been yet another case where updating the pet's microchip had fallen off the ‘to do' list.
The Vets Now clinic in Derby has also seen three similar cases over the festive period and reported that around 20% of the strays admitted to their clinic have either not been registered or their details have not been updated after a house move.
Microchipping works by the animal being chipped with its own unique code number. The owner's details and the code are then put on to a national PetLog database and the owner's details can be found by a simple swipe with a scanner over the microchip if a lost or stolen animal is found.
Karen Booth commented; "I would urge all pet owners to ensure that their animal is microchipped and that the details are up to date. The actual microchipping procedure is simple and painless. A tiny chip, around the size of a grain of rice is inserted painlessly under the animal's skin, usually around the shoulder. The procedure costs only around £20 and the details can be updated easily if there is a change of address, telephone number or ownership. In this case, we were lucky that Bayley's owners responded to the newspaper article but many other animals are not as fortunate and are not reunited with their owners."
Under the Petlog scheme (the Kennel Club Pet Identification Service), the details on the chip are added to a national database which is accessible 24 hours a day by authorised agencies like police, veterinary surgeons, local authority animal wardens and animal welfare centres.
You can find more information about Petlog on the Kennel Club website, www.the/kennelclub.org