A lot of people have asked me many questions concerning microchip as related to dog. I have answered individually, but the questions keep coming. I have decided to harmonize my responses here in order to form a forum where people can visit in the future to read about the subject and also the comments and responses of other people. This will help to ensure that nobody asks a question that has been answered before. Let us talk about what a microchip is, the purpose for a microchip and all other things you need to know about microchipping.
A microchip is a radio-frequency transponder that carries a unique identification number, and it is about the size of a grain of rice. When the area where the chip is implanted is scanned with the aid of a microchip scanner, ID number of the chip will be displayed on the scanner. The chip receives radio waves from the scanner, gets powered by that and in turn send the ID code to the scanner. It does not require a battery or other power source to function and has no moving part(s). The microchip has been sterilized to protect it for 5 years in storage, after which it is not suitable for implantation. It means that it is not suitable for implantation after the sterilization has expired. Or do you want to implant something that might have being infected in your dog?
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Microchips are classified as ISO and non-ISO compliant, and on this, the microchip scanners or readers are classified. ISO compliant microchip operate on radio frequency of 134.2kHz (ISO standard frequency) and are regarded as standard worldwide. On the other hand, the non-ISO compliant chips operate on frequencies of 125kHz and 128kHz. They are common in the USA. This does not mean that there are no ISO chips in that region. People are fast changing to ISO microchip all over the world.
The International Standards Organization(ISO) created a global standard for microchip and scanners in order to have an animal identification system that is consistent worldwide. A scanner that can read all frequencies is called a back-reading and forward-reading scanner(Universal Scanner), while the one that can read certain frequencies is called forward-reading scanner and can only read the ISO standard frequency(134.2kHz). Suffice to say that an ISO Universal Scanner can pick up signal from a microchip regardless of the frequency. Also, assuming your dog is implanted with a non-ISO microchip and you are to read it with a forward-reading ISO scanner, it cannot pick up the signal from the microchip. That is why a Universal scanner is recommended! This saves you the money to get multiple microchip scanners.
In the correspondences I got from people, many take microchipping of a dog to mean that you can track the animal via Global Positioning System(GPS). This is no! You cannot know the location of your dog via a microchip. This takes us to the advantages of microchip implantation in dogs. The following are some of the advantages, while disadvantage is almost non-existence :
- It is inexpensive and I recommend that it should come with any puppy or dog you are buying.
- It cannot fall off your dog like a collar or any other external identification tag.
- It does not require maintenance of any kind.
- It is permanent and tamper proof- It cannot be removed once implanted and has the lifespan of more than 20 years. This means it lasts your pet’s lifespan.
- It is always accurate since it cannot be tampered with.
- There is no wear and tear or any other damage that can cast doubts on its reliability.
- It cannot be removed from the dog’s body with a view to concealing the ownership.
- It can be used to identify the owner of a missing dog, or in the event that two individuals are laying claims to the ownership of a dog.
- It helps pet registries, breed and kennels clubs to store the details of a dog. It is just like your bank’s account number or your examination number. When your result is to be brought out, a query with your examination number is what is required. It will bring out all the details about you. That is the way it works for dogs too.
I have seen cases where dog breeders deny a puppy they have sold after some years. It is not deliberate. It is because they keep no or poor records and they have no microchip implanted in those puppies before leaving for a new home. The label inside the microchip pack has many copies of the printed microchip number which you can affix to many documents, including the papers to be given to the new owner and also for your own records.
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As a matter of fact, we ensure that all puppies from our kennel, Euniversal Stars Kennels, are microchipped. We have had many cases that we bought back some of the dogs that have left our kennel in cases where the new owner need to re-home them owing to unforeseen circumstances. If we had not implanted the microchip and have a proper record, how on earth can we determine that it is the dog that left us as a puppy we are buying back?
Watch a comprehensive video on how a microchip is implanted below. We are on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as @euniversalstars. Also subscribe to our YouTube channel for more educational videos on canine. Thanks for reading.
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Nicely detailed article. My questions about the technology has been answered.
Thanks a lot and God bless you Sir.
Thanks for this video sir. I just want to ask one or two questions
1. You said left side around the shoulder blade but didn’t mention the route of administration. Should it be SC or IM?
2. I would like to get one of the device, how can I get one and where?
3. Have there been cases of complications resulting from injecting the microchip?
Thanks for the questions. Let me start from question 1:
1. Subcutaneous (SC) simply means under the skin while IM means intramuscular for the benefit of those that do not know. It means to inject into the muscle of an animal. For the purpose of microchip implantation, SC route is used.It is implant under the skin at the left shoulder.
2.To buy the scanner or microchip, visit our e-shop
3. As for complications, microchip implantation does not cause any.
Nice presentation sir. Thanks for the education, may the good Lord continue to empower and enrich you as you are blessing the canine world, Nigeria especially.
My questions are:
1- The scanner only shows the MC no. and not the details of the puppy, how will the details of the dog be included ?
2- i understand that there’s a body (maybe the MC producer) that stores the various dog details. Is there a monthly or yearly maintenance fee to be paid by owners of microchipped dogs? Or is it to just buy the microchips and that’s all after implantation?
3-
Thanks for the questions Mr.Olagbaiye. The microchip Scanner only shows the microchip number(MC) which is the unique number in the chip that has been implanted in the dog. It is like your BVN or matric number. It is the unique number that will identify the animal.Other information will be added in the database. The MC number is used to call up the information of the animal being queried. Scanner does not store information other than the microchip number.
Kennel club,breed clubs or animal registry can register your dogs in their database free or at a fee. Surf the internet, there are many free registries.