Hi everyone,

I took my girl for her booster/annual checkup and when the vet scanned her (with both scanners) for ages, they couldn't pick the chip up anywhere.

Anyone else had a chip disappear?

Thanks,
aimibobs

Think it is not unknown for them to stop working - one of my hounds chips is now in his elbow region - your vet or whoever planted it in the first place should replace FOC

I've read many cases of them moving, sometimes in to chest, legs etc.  Did they scan the whole body or just where they thought it should be?

Happened to one of mine so had to have her redone.
However Petlog have her down on their system as having 2 microchips in case the missing one appears at some time when she is scanned.

>Happened to one of mine so had to have her redone.
>However Petlog have her down on their system as having 2 microchips in case the missing one appears at some time when she is scanned.

Ditto.  Not unusual it seems! :)

Happened with one of my girls too.  Didn't have a new one fitted.  Would hate to know where it might be now.

Well the vets were reluctant to put another chip in in case it interfered with the missing one. They xrayed her and couldn't see the missing one so chipped her again. Mystery ey?

It's not entirely unusual for a chip to fall out. Most common would be soon after implant, when the hole in the skin is still open, but I had one fall out of a cat several years after it was implanted (it must have been 6-7 years later as this was last year and I am pretty sure it was done in 2003 or 2004). I'd never have known where it went if it hadn't been for the fact I found it when grooming her, stuck in the fur. There was no abscess, no obvious exit or anything.

A breeder I know had an abscess appear on a dog something like ten years after she was chipped, and when the abscess burst there was the chip.

Before the compulsory requirement for dogs to be identifiable by micro-chip or tattoo came in we did a trial run at the eye testing I run. we had 36 dogs presented for testing with microchips, of which 14 had moved and most were in the chest or elbow region and we had two whose micro-chip could not be found... We presented the figures to the KC and to the BVA at Crufts as we recorded all the micro-chip details off the micro-chip paper work and scans. Jeff Sampson said the figure quoted by the micro-chip companies showed that it was something in the region of one in every so many thousands failed and something like 1 in 2 to 3 thousand moved. So he was very shocked to see our results.

It does make me reluctant to use them.

Out of my four dogs, 1 is in the left elbow and 1 is in the right point of shoulder. Only two have remained in their correct position.

i have to ask but i wonder how many were done by vets or nurses as they just seem to ram them in anywhere its SUPPOSED to be implanted only between the shoulder blades not just anywhere handy some of these socalled moved chips might not have moved at all or wernt done properly in the first place i have one whose is in the side of her neck but thats where it was put and i didnt know any better untill i went to a microchipping course iv done my own since

We always have our pups chipped before leaving, only one has disappeared, pup was chipped, scanned, put back in the pen while we finished paper work, scanned again.....all fine, pup went to his new home next day, went to the vet for a check up.....no sign of chip, so he was chipped again, if the second one does every reappear, at least they are both registered to the same owner.  But I doubt it will as he was x-rayed to see where it had gone with no sign of it anywhere.

Only thing we can think is that it slipped back out once he was put back in the pen with the other pups, when they were playing.

Mine are done by a qualified micro-chipper that comes to our house to do them.

rottie in left shoulder,spitz between his front legs and they where not planted there

One of mine now has his chip round front in the chest area and my cat's chip stopped reading completley, so I had to rechip (both recored at petlog)Have had one or two others which have migrated to shoulder region.  I think the "official" figures are way out.  Of my bunch - all hte dogs were chipped by me, the cat was chipped by a vet as the demo cat at a microchipping course.

I have found the chips almost always move a bit in cats and small dogs (as in mine -never check anyone else's!) but never in the big dogs.

At work we found that chips that were put into pups before they left the breeder are more likely to move than those inserted into older pups, at about the time of the second vax. It's still not very common though.

> At work we found that chips that were put into pups before they left the breeder are more likely to move than those inserted into older pups, at about the time of the second vax. It's still not very common though.

That's interesting.  I have actually started to leave chipping pups I am keeping myself until they are about 12 weeks, and with my last litter the ones who have gone fairly locally I have told the new owners I will go out and chip them when they are a bit older.  This is not because of migration issues but because I hate sticking those enormous needles into such tiny babes.

At the next pug party I am going to take my scanner along and offer to check for position on people's pugs, will report back.

We've come to the conclusion that it's because puppies' skin is so very loose, and they're often gripped at the scruff, that they get more easily dislodged and then go a-sliding around under the skin.

Just to say, Beano was chipped by the vets. A few years later they checked for his chip and it wasnt there :o :o
They rechipped for FREE and claimed the money back of the chip company :)
Lea :) :)