Microchip

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Usagi_Chan

Usagi_Chan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2007
Messages
163
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Location
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
I've been thinking of getting my two bunnies microchipped. There are local clinics that claim to do it for $10. From what I understand that's the chip and inserting it. I believe that you also have to register the chip number with a database which often costs another $15-20. That part is confusing. I've looked on the web and there seems to be a number of places you can register the chip for many different prices. If the bunny is lost and picked up by a shelter, how would they know what database to check ?

Chips are normally inserted between the shoulder blades on many animals but that space seems small on my buns and I wonder if the chip might irritate them severely if placed there. If you have a chipped bunny, where is the chip?

Does anyone here have any experiences with chipping or registering? Does anyone have any stories to share about how chipping helped them and their buns?

Thanks
Usagi_Chan
 
No expirience Microchipping, just wondering why you want to? Will these buns be outside?

Theonly reasonwhy the chipping is done, in case dogs get off thier chains and run away. Or their cats run off. They run the chip number and Wholla!:D

I hope you'll keep your buns close to you. So, no need to do this, but not sure if vets do and are well adapted at doing it in buns.:)
 
I know some places encourage microchipping rabbits, but after working with shelters for 15 years... I've seen enough chip migration (mainly in dogs, but in a few cats as well)not to feel comfortable about chipping a rabbit because their skin seems so delicate.
 
Leaf, what happens in chip migration? Can you describe it and why it is a problem? I am curious. I have been thinking about microchipping too but not becuase my buns will be outside. My rabbits will never be outside. The reason I thought about microchipping is some of my rabbits are pretty fast and some people in my family may not be as careful as I like. I fear that one day they will open the door to leave and then the rabbits or rabbit will get outside and lost. There are so many at the Humane Society that are found as strays. And not just in the horrible poor areas. There was one found in the rich area too! And I think to myself if only these rabbits had been microchipped or something similar. but then again a tatoo can accomplish the same thing right? But a microchip can be traced electronically too right? It stays active all the time.

Shannon
 
I think chip migration refers to the chip moving from the original implant site. From what I've read, the newer microchips on the market don't do that as often as they did when they first came out. We looked into it when we had our dog microchipped. You do have to register them and keep the info updated. Luckily, we have never needed it.

We did not microchip the cats or rabbits because they are indoor only. I know that all the ads for the microchip companies encourage microchipping all your pets in case they get out butwe didn't think there was achance that they would get out.
 
I fear that one day they will open the door to leave and then the rabbits or rabbit will get outside and lost.
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I really don't think that your rabbits will run for the door and try to get outside like a dog or cat would. My rabbits won't get too near an open door. They will approach it and stick there noses out for a sniff. They have never crossed the threshold. Don't worry - I'm standing there watching them. You should try a supervised experiment to see what they do around an open door.


 
Thumper and Pegasus are house bunnies. They live on 9th floor of an apartment building. I have a pet stroller for them and I take them out on walks in the stroller. There is a large park nearby and sometimes I take them out of the stroller, put them in a harness and let them romp. Both are used to the harness. I do one bunny at a time so I can watch them closely. They love nibbling on grass and exercising.

My buns are my "children." They are very loved and if they got lost I would be very upset. This is the main reason I am thinking of chipping them. The odds might not be very great of losing them but at least if I did, they would have a better chance of making it back home.

Shelters will euthanize a stray that they find if they can't locate an owner, sometimes in only a few days. It's more likely if the bunny is not well. With a chip, assuming that they check for this, they would call me, even if the bunny was not well. The chip would be an insurance that could save my bunny.

I also work at an SPCA shelter and many of our buns are found strays. Some are very social so it's clear that they are lost from humans who cared for them.

Usagi
 
Usagi_Chan wrote:
I also work at an SPCA shelter and many of our buns are found strays. Some are very social so it's clear that they are lost from humans who cared for them.
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I agree. I volunteer at my local shelter, and the sweetest bunnies we get are stays. My shelter does chip all bunnies adopted from there.
 
Personally I agree with Leaf, I don't really like microchips either, for the same reason. You can tatto their ears if you want to be able to identify them. Then make sure your vet and the local animal shelter has the tatto numbers on record.

Sadly, I don't think a bunny being social is an indication that it was actually lost, rather than dumped. I have had quite a few very sweet friendly bunnies that were either dumped or owner surrendered.
 
If your bunny were to be chipped and get lost, the shelter would do a scan of the chip. They don't have to know what database to check, they just find out the owner of the pet through the scanner, which will most likely also pull up which databased you're registered with ;)

I've actually never thought/heard of microchipping rabbits until now. It seems like it would be a good idea if you lived in an apartment, or some place where your bunny could easily slip away or something like that I guess. I probably wouldn't do it becase A) For me it'd be way to expensive to chip 9+ bunnies B) Most of my bunnies are show rabbits, so I think that would interfere with showing (like the judge may feel the chip and think itsan abcess, etc.) and C) I don't really thinkI have to worry about my rabbitsrunning away...

I mean, dogs & cats runaway wayy more often than rabbits do, and that's because rabbits are kept in more secure areas.I agree, maybe just get them tattooed? That will still allow you to identify them...it's not as high-tech, no, but if they were to be picked up by the animal shelter, at least you'd have somewhere to start - their tattoo number.

Emily
 
Emily, I don't think you know how a microchip works. All it has is a number. It doesn't contain any owner information or any information about the animal. That's why the chip has to be registered with a database. A finder of the animal scans the animal to see if it has a chip. If so, they read the number then look it up on a database. The chip is activated by the scanner. It doesn't have any power of it's own.

The two main chips are Avid and HomeAgain. Each company maintains it's own database but there are many other databases out there where the number can be registered. So just implanting the chip is worthless. It's number must be registered in a database.

I don't see a tattoo as a solution unless it had name and address of owner. I don't think tattoos are registered anywhere.

Also in my town there are hundreds of vets and at least three shelters. A found bunny could end up at any of those places.

I have given my buns subcutaneous fluids and I know how the fluids skid down the side of the bunny and often end up around their belly. I don't know if that would happen with a chip. It is far smaller and would not be as subject to gravity as fluids are.

By searching here I did find a few members who said their bunnies were chipped.

Usagi
 
Well, as someone else mentioned - the older chips would migrate, but honestly with rabbits I don't know ... Isn't the skin thinner? If migration were to occure (IMO) there could be problems with tearing or other issues. I know when one of my dogs was microchipped I could feel the rice sized chip under her skin for quite a while.

With the body structure of a rabbit as well, I'd be worried as to where migration could land. I've seen dogs with the chip down the front shoulder and almost around to the elbow.

Also, not all chip scanners are universal. What may read for one company may never pick up on the scanner a vet/shelter has on hand.

Not all shelters have scanners.

Working as I have for 15 years - I honestly never would have considered scanning a rabbit for a microchip. Having a visual tattoo would have been a huge red flag though and while it may not have led me to the owner perse, when someone would have called about a lost rabbit it would be in the forefront of my mind.


Could you not register a rabbits tattoo withone of the many tattoo registry services available?


 
To register a tattoo you must join the American Rabbit Breeder's Association (ARBA) and the rabbit must be a purebred. That was all I found on a google search for "register rabbit tattoo" other that a computer program for breeders to use to keep track of their rabbits.

I believe the scanners will only read chips from the manufacturer but they will indicate the presence of a chip from their competitor.

As to migration I found this at http://www.cavyrescue.co.uk/chipping.shtml:
"Nowadays, most chips have an anti-migration cap to stop this happening and scanner operators tend to scan the whole animal just to be sure."
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I suppose a tattoo that reads "chipped" might help alert anyone that the rabbit is chipped.

I guess no system is perfect but it seems to me that chipping is the best available at this time. I was hoping to get first hand, personal experiences in this thread from people who have had their rabbit(s) chipped or from shelters about how they treat incoming animals, I mean do they scan all animals for chips?

Usagi_Chan

 
Usagi_Chan wrote:
Emily, I don't think you know how a microchip works. All it has is a number. It doesn't contain any owner information or any information about the animal. That's why the chip has to be registered with a database. A finder of the animal scans the animal to see if it has a chip. If so, they read the number then look it up on a database. The chip is activated by the scanner. It doesn't have any power of it's own.
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If you knew how it worked already, then why did you ask? I'm not saying I'm wrong, because some chips actually do contain owner information, when they scan the chip, it pulls up the info on the scanner, which comes thru from the database :)

Emily
 
Emily, As people have been posting answers I have investigated more using google searches and I've been learning. I haven't really changed my original question at all which was:
Does anyone here have any experiences with chipping or registering? Does anyone have any stories to share about how chipping helped them and their buns?
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And questions are coming to light through this question.

As for the scanners I have never seen one. I guess they could have a hookup to the remotely located database and show owner information directly. Since I also volunteer at the SPCA I'll ask around there.

Usagi_Chan
 
I think the most important consideration would be, do most Vets and shelters even scan bunnies to see if they're micro-chipped? Since this is commonly popular with dogs and cats (and even some of them that are micro-chipped get past scanning), would they consistently check buns too?

No stories with buns and micro-chipping, but I have heard a number of stories with dogs and cats with microchipping. I heard a story about a dog that was micro-chipped, got lost, was picked up and SCANNED, but no chip was detected and then was passed on to another vet or shelter. Luckily the last vet was able to pick up the microchip via scan, so they found it's owner. I don't know if it was an issue with the type of "scanning gun" used or if they need to have different "scanning guns" to pick up different chips.

Other than that I have heard good things.
 
Raspberry82 wrote:
I think the most important consideration would be, do most Vets and shelters even scan bunnies to see if they're micro-chipped? Since this is commonly popular with dogs and cats (and even some of them that are micro-chipped get past scanning), would they consistently check buns too?
Click to expand...

that would be something i'd think about if i was considering it. for Jamie, i don't really see a need to. all the animals are indoor only, so the door isn't opening at random times to let the cats in/out. Jamie isn't a free run bun, so for the most part when the door goes open he's in his cage or on the back porch playing. the cats aren't chipped either;)
 
If I'm correct, I believe the scanning guns actually pick up an ID # that is in the micro-chip itself. Then they use that number via a national database. I think!
 
When we found a stray cat we took them to the vets, they scanned them with a scanner which was plugged into their computers (they have weird computers at the vets, they aren't 'real' computers just kinda like word processors, they just show up info on the appointments etc). When they scanned the chip all the details came up on the screen. I don't know if that is saying that the chip only had an ID and got all the info from the database, or if the chip had all the information but could only display it on the screen..... so I guess I'm not much help!

Fran :) :hearts :brownbunny
 
I volunteered today at the local SPCA and while I was there I discussed microchips, scanners, scanning and chip migration with one of the staff members. I was told that the chip contains only an ID number. They scan to get the number and then place a call to find the information associated with the number. Chip migration happens. The scanners come with instructions on how to scan, which means the entire animal. This SPCA always scans the entire animal to be sure to find a migrated chip. They scan every animal that comes to them, which includes rabbits.

Scanners differ. In the US the standard scanners use 125 khz whereas in 140 other countries it's 134 Khz. Some scanners might be able to detect both but others might not. The 125Khz was made the US standard in 2006 by federal law. Banfield, located in many PetSmarts was using the international chip but stopped doing them in May of 2004:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_Nov_5/ai_n6331500

This could account for some of the differing opinions about chip effectiveness. I see Avid as "Avidly protecting their own market share but still they seem to be the leaders' However HomeAgain uses the same frequencies and hasn't sued placing their interest above getting pets home safely. Either would probably be fine for any pet that would be only in the US.

If taking a pet overseas you'd want the 134Khz chip which could be added to the US one. However few rabbits travel internationally. However in my rabbit meetup group one of our members just lost her rabbit Boo and she said that they took him everywhere, including overseas.

I'm a firm believer in Murphy's law. I think in this case it might read something like this: "Although rabbits are seldom lost, yours will be. It will happen when you visit your very sick grandmother 768 miles from your home and you couldn't get a rabbit-sitter. When you made a pit-stop "Thumper" escaped from his escape-proof carrier and hopped out the door when the station attendant opened the car door. The attendant was afraid you'd be angry so he chased after "Thumper" scaring the daylights out of him. The gentleman reports that the bunny was last seen moving at supersonic speed in a westerly direction."

The final outcome of this scenario might depend on whether or not "Thumper" was chipped

Usagi_Chan




 
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