Sophie's World

There are so many good reasons to microchip your pet, just ask Chloe Rushby, who was reunited with her childhood pet after nine years.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals found the missing Muffy. A scan for a microchip led Muffy to her joyous reunion. Without the microchip, Chloe and Muffy may never have seen each other again.

The microchip itself is about the size of a grain of rice. It is injected into the body of the pet, not unlike getting a routine vaccination. The needle is a bit bigger, so young pets are often microchipped during a spay or neuter when sedated. Other than the normal soreness after a shot, your pet will not know it’s there.

The pet must be registered with the microchip company after being chipped. It is important to keep contact information up-to-date. If the unthinkable happens, accurate information will reunite you with your pet that much sooner.

No one knows what happened to poor Muffy those nine years while lost. Thanks to a microchip, she can enjoy many more happy years with her grateful family.

A truly heartwarming story comes from Reuters about a lost cat.  Dixie is not just any ordinary cat.  She was, and the emphasis is on was, a lost cat.  This is why you should never lose hope.  Dixie was returned with her owners whom believed she was dead after nine years.  This was possible because Dixie was microchipped.

Amazingly enough, Dixie was found less than half a mile from her home.  An animal charity took her in and as standard procedure would have it, scanned her.  Needless to say the owners–and Dixie–were over the moon.  As owner, Gilly Delaney said, "We don’t think she has stopped purring since she came back through the door."  Now doesn’t that just bring a tear to your eye?

Like anything nowadays, microchips have taken a beating from the press.  What’s infuriating about such articles is their ignorance of how science and research work.  It goes like this; the scientist has a question.  She creates an experiment to prove or disprove a hypothesis.  The study is conducted, observations made, results calculated.  The hypothesis is either proven or disproved.   A theory is suggested when the experiment can be repeated with the same results.  One study such as the one cited above does not a theory make.  The way it’s reported though, a reader would assume that microchips pose a high risk of cancer.

Microchips provide a permanent way to identify pets.  Permanent identification is required when traveling overseas or if an animal is shown.  Once a pet is microchipped, the registered data is entered into a national database.  If Fido gets out the back yard or is lost in Spokane while on vacation with his owners, he can be identified, his owners contacted, and the pet and his owner reunited.  What’s the alternative?  Less than 25% of lost pets ever get reunited with their owners.  A sobering fact, indeed.

To give the other side its due, microchips are not without their issues.  There can be failure of the chip.  A chip can migrate.  There is controversy surrounding the chip itself.  As regards to cancer, the evidence is barely present.  The British Small Animal Veterinary Association has tracked adverse reactions with microchips for 11 years.  During that time, an association between microchips and cancer was found in two dogs.  Over four million pets are microchipped in the United Kingdom.  The consensus of the American Veterinary Medical Association is that the benefits outweigh the minimal risks.