Beagle and Chips to go please.

February 18, 2008 12:41 PM

My US-born dog has a non-ISO compliant microchip (24pethealth). She's just moved to the UK. If she gets lost there, will the RSPCA etc be able to read her chip, or should we get her a new one? If we need a new one, what happens to the old one? Will this cause complications & confusion?

More info: when she travelled to the UK under the PETS scheme, we supplied our own non-ISO scanner, so they would let her in.

While we can register her chip number with PetID, the Kennel Club's national registry, I don't know if pet rescue orgs can read non-ISO chips.

Any advice please?

posted by tonylord to Pets & Animals (3 answers total)

There should be no harm in getting an additional chip of the supported type, according to past reading I've done. The indications I've seen are that the non-supported chip is effectively ignored by the other scanner.
posted by phearlez at 1:08 PM on February 18, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks phearlez. I'm reassured that there will be no complications with an additional chip.
But I don't know if one will actually be needed.

Come on hivemind!
posted by tonylord at 6:24 PM on February 18, 2008

The solution is simple: go to the local branch of the RSPCA and/or dog rescue group (call first) and ask them to scan her with the scanners they routinely use. If her chip reads, no worries, if it doesn't, get her chipped with an ISO chip (not a bad idea anyway, since everywhere in the world pretty much is using the ISO chips now except the US).
posted by biscotti at 8:43 PM on February 18, 2008