Disappearing Identichips?

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Stephen Courtney — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:45:08 GMT

I'm quite sure the dog from Spain had had the chip read, after all it was stamped and signed for in the passport.

and as for finding a dodgy French vet - that hadn't occurred to me at all, honestly...but I too know of many many falsified passports floating around.

I guess I am a real naif....

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Mark Holmes — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:58:51 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]

Other choices were to take the animal back to France and repassport it ( 6 months) or leave it in quarantine ( 6 months)

[/quote]

There is a third option, return to france and get a dodgy french vet to rechip and adjust passport. (Seen it done) Although since 1/1/12 will only have to wait three weeks now.

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Mark Holmes — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:47:13 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]but i had one client arrive at Calais with a knackered chip that was working fine in Spain 24 hours earlier when the tick and tape treatment was done.[/quote]

Is that tongue in cheek?

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Niall Taylor — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:47:47 GMT

[quote user="Neil Wheadon"]Checking a 3 year old labrador today for its chip, there was no sign... [/quote]

We had a few drop out in the past before everyone learned the correct injection technique - it requires a slightly different approach than a straightforward vaccine type injection and if note done very delibarately this can leave the chip wedged in the skin from where it eventually works its way out. I've also seen a chip which was snapped in two in one dog as an incidental finding on x-ray, so they certainly can break.

As Stephen has said the whole 'broken (aka not-put-in-properly) chip' thing is much less fraught now due to change in legislation.

Cheers,

Niall

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Neil Wheadon — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:03:29 GMT

The failure rate is 0.00155% according to a friendly animalcare rep.

This includes faulty as well as damaged chips (she cited dog fights when the glass breaks)

I expect this report is from reported failures of which there aren't very many. I was given a form and they will record and replace the chip, which is pretty decent of animalcare

Hope that helps

Neil

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Stephen Courtney — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:41:35 GMT

Nothing new about chip failures, i had heard a figure of about 1 in 10000 failing within the lifetime of the animal.

I have seen several animals go into quarantine because of chip failure ( as well as iatrogenic passport cock ups on the part of their vets)

In the past the only solution was to remove the chip surgically, replace it immediately, and send the failed chip to the manufacturer. Providing they could read it, a certificate could be issued to that effect, the passport could be altered and the animal could leave quarantine.

Other choices were to take the animal back to France and repassport it ( 6 months) or leave it in quarantine ( 6 months)

It is bureaucratic nonsense like this, with no leeway for common sense or compassion, which makes me cheer to see the back of the current PETS system.

From the first of January all that will be required is to rechip, revaccinate and wait 21 days - on the other side of the channel. i doubt there will be any active quarantine kennels after 1/1/12 so people will still have a significant headache, albeit a lot cheaper to resolve.

It is worth checking a chip before clients travel - indeed pet travel insurance usually insists on this - but i had one client arrive at Calais with a knackered chip that was working fine in Spain 24 hours earlier when the tick and tape treatment was done.

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Utlendigur — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:37:34 GMT

We've had a few cases of dogs chipped by the RSPCA where the chip has gone missing. I just wonder with those whether it is implant technique ie not getting the chip far enough subcut, particularly in thick-skinned dogs, or dragging it back out with the implant device. I can remember two cases of dogs we've chipped. One was a labrador belonging to the previous practice principle - chip worked back out through the hole and was found on the fur when the owner got home. The other was a dog belonging to our head nurse where the chip stopped working (and of course this was a show dog with a passport that she was planning on taking to Germany). Luckily the chip company were able to get the number off it when we'd removed it so she didn't need to get a new passport.

Re: Disappearing Identichips?

Laurence Webb — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:55:20 GMT

I've only had one failure, and that was on a dog that was chipped for a Pet Passport. The chip was still present (palpable) but stopped working. We scanned it with 3 scanners (and even changed the batteries!) and rechecked 2 or 3 times at future dates. Fortunately the dog was yet to leave the UK

Trauma to the chip could break it, although different manufactureres have claimed that their chips are more resistant than others for various reasons, Likewise the anti-migration coatings and collars have been disputed by various reps. Oddly enough each rep has the best chips for both reasons. I guess they could all be right.

In the case of a PETS related failure, the chip can be surgically removed and sent to the manufacturer to see if the number can be recovered. I'd question the ethics of this, although the ethics of leaving a dog in quarantine for 6 monhts could also be questioned.

We had one chip that worked its way out of a dog 4 or so years after implantation. We know it happened as the owner found it on the floor of their kitchen and brought it in for us to check.