Cat microchip - anything I should know before saying yes?

Deusfaux

After a bad scare with having one of our cats missing last summer for several days, I think I want to get them at least microchipped so that if they were to be found without their collars there would still be a way to identify them.

Vet says $54 per cat, hurts them a little bit, no real side effects, not much else to say on it

anyone else have anything to pass along?

Daenris

Well... only my completely anecdotal experience. Our cat is chipped (the rescue shelter we got her from chips all their cats) and she acts like a normal cat.

I'd say do it. It's a one time, minor discomfort to the animal (less so than spaying/neutering I suspect) and it will hopefully help them get back to you if they get lost, which means they don't end up in a crowded shelter and/or potentially euthanized after being there too long.

buzzard0627

I second that. I have two cats one chipped the other not. If one were at risk for escaping, I would chip him in a moments notice.

Theungry

Well if you ever run afoul of the government, they can use their mind control satellites to take control of your cat and use it as an assassin... other than that, its totally safe. My cat is microchipped, and its never been an issue in the slightest. I really appreciate the piece of mind it gives me that if he ever got out, he could be traced back to me at a shelter. Of course... I am an upright law abiding citizen.

Gihgehls

Chipping your cat is fine, the only think you have to watch out for is remote mind-control as mentioned above. It's like getting a painful shot.

Ruckus

Both my parent's cats are chipped and tattoo'd. They've never had to use it, but I know people who have lost there cat and few days later they got a call from the local vet because somebody founder her and brought her in.

Octoparrot

I haven't chipped mine. Nothing bad about chipping, I just don't like it.

I've had pets disappear, and their collar worked fine to get them back safe, except for when they got ran over. Doubt a chip protects from that either, though.

IceBurner

Chipping is a decent option if your pet is the type who hates collars and always manages to get them off.

EggyToast

I have 2 cats, neither wear a collar nor are chipped. The problem in my neighborhood is that if one of them were to run away, they would either get hit by a car or be picked up by someone else and kept. That person would probably never check for a chip. This is because I live in a heavily populated city, though.

Worse, there's, I believe, a few different kinds of chip, and they're not all compatible. So you can chip your pet, but if the vet/spca doesn't scan for that kind of chip, it won't help.

Do some investigating to see which brand of chip is used in your local area. If the vets check for all of them, and the SPCA checks for 1 or 2, pick one of those. They're definitely a fine idea, but I'm skeptical of how useful they are for indoor cats (compared to dogs, which go outside all of the time).

shutz

Chipping your cat is a good idea if you ever plan on playing imports.

Deusfaux

- no cat laws where i live

- no incompatibilities in canada either im told for chip types

-i dont trust a collar - which can be removed - to inform someone the cat has an owner and needs to be returned.

EggyToast

Then you're set. Generally, if there's no incompatibilities in your area, it comes down to whether you want to or not. It's not like neutering, which everyone should do. I mean, a non-neutered cat is far more likely to try to escape and run off, making a chip more useful, but that's arguably the wrong approach to the problem

I spent a lot of time on a good cat forum when I first got my cats, and it mostly came down to location and how you felt about it. It's not illegal anywhere, most vets are happy to do it, and it doesn't hurt the cat. Their loose skin also means they won't freak out about it later on. There is the potential of developing tumors, but that's more a quirk of cat genetics (they also easily develop tumors from frequent injections, say if they're diabetic, at the injection site).

If you're looking purely for downsides, the only one I ever found was incompatibility and price. Price because it's not a sure thing -- if someone wants to keep a cat, even if they know about chips (and feel for one) they can still keep your cat.

Deusfaux

the thing about tumors

thats the kind of reason id consider not

the cat is healthy and in good state as it is

do i want to start risking that now with injection foreign material into its body?

Octoparrot

Well if you never raised your cat to tolerate a collar... does he at least have a tattoo? Tattoos don't cause cat cancer.

Edit: I mean, Some asshole who wants your cat can remove collar, and then just ignore tattoo and microchip.

EggyToast

Deusfaux wrote: »

the thing about tumors

thats the kind of reason id consider not

the cat is healthy and in good state as it is

do i want to start risking that now with injection foreign material into its body?

I'm not a vet, so I may not be perfectly accurate, but here's how I understand it. Cats have naturally loose skin, as you probably know, and are prone to develop tumors. These tumors aren't necessarily anything bad, but typically pop up as being problematic only because they can cause discomfort and cats can live for a long time (stories of 25 yr old siamese are not uncommon). They're not necessarily cancerous or harmful, and many cats develop them naturally over their lifetime, just like mice, humans, etc.

The fact that they're prone to it means that giving them injections over the long term means you have to find new spots, as they can develop a tumor if you always give them ones in their scruff. Vets can remove tumors and check to make sure if they're benign or not.

This fact also means that a permanent foreign object may also cause a tumor to form. No long term studies have been done in cats or dogs, and as microchip technology has gotten better the chips have gotten smaller and lower voltage, making them even safer. Still, it is a permanent foreign object.

Keep in mind that I'm slightly biased against them. I think they're a good idea, but in my area there's 3 competing varieties and my neighbors wouldn't know what a microchip is, other than the crumbs at the bottom of a potato chip bag. Your vet would know more up-to-date information, so talk with them about what they've heard. They would know first if the pets they cared for had tumors around chip sites.

Trowizilla

Animal Control usually does check for chips, and the one I talked to awhile back said that they have several different scanners. I'd think it'd be better to double up on identifiers for your cat, so if someone does find it, they'll have the greatest possible chance of getting back to you.

Anecdote time: when I went with my ex while he was adopting his cat from the Humane Society, they microchipped her. The whole process took less than a minute: vet tech takes cat into clinic room, vet tech brings cat back out, cat seems completely unbothered by the whole thing. She freaked out much more about going into the carrier than she ever did about being microchipped.

Pheezer

Your local human society/animal control will definitely check the chip if your cat is found, as will any responsible vet who gets a stray brought in. It vastly improves the odds of getting your cat back, and it only hurts for a very short while. No one has ever shown any correlation between chipping and tumors and cancerous tumors, and assuming that there's still a risk anyhow is foolish given the period of time the technology has been around.

bone daddy

Getting your cat chipped is not going to give it cancer. The most you're going to have to worry about is a benign tumor forming due to chronic irritation from the foreign object, and that concern is practically nil when you're talking about inorganic foreign objects. Not to mention that the spot most chips are injected (between the shoulder blades) is kind of accessible, so if you, say, pet your cat on a regular basis, you'll notice that something's up in plenty of time to prevent it from becoming a threat to your cat's health.

You probably want to check into the companies who offer the chips your area uses, though--some may offer more perks than others. The company that does the chip my cat has, for instance, throws in free lost-pet health insurance.

cfgauss

Ruckus wrote: »

Both my parent's cats are chipped and tattoo'd. They've never had to use it, but I know people who have lost there cat and few days later they got a call from the local vet because somebody founder her and brought her in.

Wait--tattooed? How does this work? I am not an animal expert, but aren't cats covered in fur? Or is this like a secret message, which you have to shave the cat to reveal? (Which is an awesome idea that I will now use to transmit secure messages to my agents in the field.)

Deusfaux

it's fallen out of favor, but on cats i saw in my youth, it was done on the inside of their ear, where of course, there is no fur

FyreWulff

usually purebred cats are tattoo'd. (The crazy lady across the alley kidnapped my mom's Russian Blue cat, and when they got her back the insides of her legs had been shaved - they were looking for a tattoo)

Chip > Collar because people have been known to take off a collar and then keep the pet, or intentinally take off the collar and turn it in as a stray. We almost lost our dog one time because some guy tried to do that (fortunately, we were keeping a heavy watchout on all the pounds). Plus the fact that they can get out the collar if they get stuck on something.

Pheezer

Deusfaux wrote: »

it's fallen out of favor, but on cats i saw in my youth, it was done on the inside of their ear, where of course, there is no fur

The humane society in Winnipeg still does it.

Gabriel_Pitt

Chipping is less painful and quicker which is why it tends to be preferred.

W2

shutz wrote: »

Chipping your cat is a good idea if you ever plan on playing imports.

Well played, I was about to make a joke about doing it if you wanted your cat to play Divx, but you beat me to it.

Feral

There is one study linking the microchip to tumor formation. However, the tumor formation was in mice who were bred to be genetically predisposed to tumors. There's a lot of skepticism over whether the study has fuck-all to do with cats. I wouldn't worry too much about it, because the anecdotal reports of vets seems to indicate that tumor formation at the microchip implantation site in cats is exceedingly rare, if it ever happens at all.

However, since we're on the subject of cats and tumors, the three-year rabies vaccine CAN cause tumors. The agent that they use to extend the life of the vaccine to three years turns out to be a carcinogen in cats. A lot of vets have switched back to the one-year vaccine for this very reason, but some vets don't quite know about it yet.

Deusfaux

had it done

nacho was most displeased with the car ride

pascal with being in the clinic

both were silent during the procedure and its all good

FyreWulff

All our pets have died in their 20s from tumors, and only the most recent 2 of 3 cats and the dog have been chipped and they haven't died yet. So I think it'd be hard to say exactly what is causing tumors.