Do 'modern' microchips still move. According to all the literature ...no they don't.

Just for the record Bear's new all singing all dancing chip, originally placed inbetween his shoulder blades can now be located by his left elbow! What happens when it reachs the elbow joint?

Leigh,

Oh, THAT kind of chip. And there's me picturing a box of McCain Micro Chips floating across the kitchen :D

Linda

Hi, Leigh, I don't have any facts or figures, but Morris has had his for two years, and it's still in exactly the same place! I am always paranoid, so get the vet to check each time we go! Elsa had hers last week, so I'll keep an eye on that one too, but I am a member of a 50+ member dog training club and none of theirs have moved either! Is Bear's moving just under the skin or nearer the bone? as I would suspect it would have no detremental effect nearer the surface of the skin. A friend of mine had a pencil lead floating around under her skin for twenty years or so and it never caused any damage.:D
regards
Emily

My Lab has her booster in April so will get vet to check chip to see if it is where it should be.

BC had his checked in Oct last year and that was fine in the same place it should be.

Karen

Well My bouvier breeder told me not to have the chip until the booster,?
The Vet said better now then later and the only one chip he dealt with that migrated ended up in the toe of the dog.

harley, my flatcoat, chips has migrated to the base of the skcull, if he got lost no one with a scanner will think about scaning his head,

Briedog I thought they could scan all over once the chip was in, the only thing I was worried about that it was not to painful last time the vet
suggested she took my Zac's testicles off at the same time both owner and dog mortified :EEK:

Hi Emily, two vets, myself and my husband have all tried to locate the chip under his skin. We can not feel it, and only know where to locate it because of the scanner. We have been advised to scan him regularly and monitor its movement.

Now my Vet told me the chip even if it moved could never hurt the dog
but reading the above that would really worry me ? Are the chips all one size silly question I know .

To be honest with you Patricia, if the damn thing moves any more, they can take it out. I last scanned him 9 weeks ago and it had moved from in between his shoulder blades, onto his shoulder blade. Now it has moved some 8-9 inches down his leg. My vet does not think it will cause him any problems,but suggested we keep and eye on it.

Leigh good luck with this Chip but it really sounds a little on the worrying side
I use a big animal hospital at Euston very well known so I do have a lot of faith in them
but think before

All of these microchip chip stories sound really odd!!! I've had two in my dogs for nigh on 7 or so years....still about rice size [$ still in between the shoulder blades area. Can feel them if I look for them :D Could be the small breed = better fit :P OR the rare thing that my vets did correctly?
Toodles

Hi Leigh

I believe it is where they position the chip whatever sort it is. It has been found it can migrate when it is placed under the skin so most practice now is to inject it deeper into muscle so it is not 'floating' but held firmly in place.

Hi Lara, do you think that this chip is going to cause him any problems if it actually gets as far as the elbow joint? I'm probably worrying unecessarily, but what happens if it gets in between the bones? Will it break or do you think the dogs natural movement will deflect it away from the actual joint itself? A touch of Neurotic "Mother" Syndrome :D

id feel the same as you--has it been done a while ,how old was the dog when it was done, i read that theyd changed the makeup of the chip recently to stop any chances of them migrating, also that if you wait until your dogs skeleton is mature theres less chance too,
i had one put in at crufts 2 years ago- its still there, and ive had one put into the bitch ive just got back last week too.
it would worry me as theyre so small the thought of it getting into the joint on your dog, id have it removed too if it kept going, hope it gets sorted ok

Diz, we didn't have a choice about chipping him. He was chipped at 3 months of age when he had his rabies jab for the pet passport. He isn't quite 2 years old yet.

Just caught up with this thread! My daughter's husband is a vet and he is not happy that to be imported under the passport scheme their dogs are to be chipped. My own vet tells me he is not impressed with them either.
At an eye testing session about three years ago John and I had five dogs present, which were microchipped. We had a scanner operator there to read the chips. In the dog imported from the USA the chip did not read at all, in another dog chipped here in the UK it did not read. In two others chipped in the UK the scanner picked up the chips one at the base of the tail, one by the dogs elbow and the final dog which had a chip the reading was picked up between the shoulder blades. So on that small sample I will not be micro chipping my dogs yet!

I prefer tattooes Polly, but to bring Bear into the UK we had no choice and the other thing is that we are taking him back out again at the end of the month to a Field Trial in Europe so the chip will have to remain in him for the time being.Lets hope the chip works when we bring him back in again :rolleyes:

That's the bit that terrifies me! I am taking the two younger girls (who are now coatless and moulting) to Holland in July! They are chipped and tattooed, and I wihs they would take the details of both for the pet passport as a fail safe! I think the Tattoo should be allowed as a back up if the chip should fail!

Check your insurance Barbara. You might be able to get cover for emergency quarantine? Have you also checked that your insurance covers treatment oversea's? I also make arrangements with a local quarantine kennels in Dover, to make sure that if there is a problem, that they will come and get my dog and quarantine him for me. A licensed carrier has to actually bring animals in and not all quarantine kennels are licensed carriers. You can not bring your animal in yourself and put it in quarantine.

Unfortunately, tattooes are not a adequate form of ID for pet passport. It is to easy to reproduce or alter.

Are you going to go to the show on each day or only on your day?

Mine have both, but I wish the tatoos could be used as back up ID on the passport in case of chip/scanner failure.

I don't know what the arrqangements for the dogs are, will they be allowed to go each day? I won't want to leave the girls in the Hotel crated in July!!!!

Sorry Barbara, I keep forgetting you are going on a package.

Normal movement shouldn't cause any problems as it shouldn't breach the membranes into the joint itself, but I wouldn't like to take the chance of a heavy knock or a fall. Even other dogs play fighting. A canine may catch it at exactly the right position to push it in. My dogs were always chewing each others legs in play. A bit of a long shot but stranger things have happened!!

The chip is NOT placed into muscle. It should be placed between the shoulder blades. Unfortunately some people place them into the scruff of the neck which isnt the same thing at all.
Leigh do you know which company made your chip? Is it not possible to speak with them?

Bec, this is my imported dog. He was chipped by a dutch vet. I know it is a standard chip but have no idea who the manufacturer is.

Bec - I suppose it depends on the skill of who is doing the microchipping.
http://my.erinet.com/~ghost/microchipping.htm
http://www.chippet.com/frames/how.htm

Leigh
I would be concerned if the chip migrated as far as the elbow and have it removed.

Vets tend to chip in the scruff as they deal with it like a vaccination where as it should be between the shoulder blades. Agree the competancy of the chipper will come into it too.

I had both my dog and cat chipped by the same vet and with cleo the chip is still exactly where he put it, but with kuga the cat it has moved half way down her shoulder towards her leg. It feels like a grain of rice under there, horrid! But it has not moved in the last 4 months or so - vet said something vague about immediate transportation or something, and that it won't move anymore, blah - who knows, have had it marked on her records though, and as bengals aren't that common hopefully all will be well if she gets picked up, not that she'd actually let anybody pick her up, little madam that she is!

Hi Leigh,
Um, this might be a stupid or a sick question, but I have to ask. Have you ever just tried to move it back up and along under the skin with your fingers? --kind of like a free floating follicle cyst, eh?

If it was loose enough to float down, it might just be loose enough to float back.

Of course, I'd be wishing for a quiet moment when your dog is laying down to do this :D

toodles

Sara, no one can feel the chip and even if we could, I would think that trying to move it could cause more problems than it solved. Thanx for the suggestion anyway

Mmm, sorry about that suggestion. The chips on my pups feel like grains of rice, so it's really easy to find & adjust them if they ever need to be. Sounds like your style is smaller.
Good luck

Leigh some weeks ago we found a lab and when we scanned him there was no chip reading anyway we kept him and eventually his owners came forward,seems the chip had migrated to his back !!! now we scan the whole body,my friends dogs chip is down his front leg !!

Th's chip has moved from her shoulder blades down towards her elbow too. And she will be two next month. The vet says that it's more difficult in loose skinned breeds.

I'll get him to scan her when she goes for her booster. As you say, if all else fails, it'll have to come out.

Your vet could have a point there Kate. Bear is very *baggy* all over :D

The vet said that she would grow into her skin. I bl**dy hope not, otherwise she'll be three foot tall and weigh 8 stone! :D

same here, wouldnt want to see the size of these if their clothes fit

My Italian Greyhound had his chip put into his neck and is currently in his shoulder. As he has thin skin and little fat I can feel it and it does move about quite a bit

I was thinking that the 'baggy' skin may make a difference, as Morris has quite tight skin, but I'll keep an eye on Elsa's as she has thicker, loose BT skin, and as you say this would more than likely make a difference. Surely if this in a problem which is commonly acknowledged, the poeple who scan found dogs should scan the whole body in case?
Emily

Just back from Vet from having Labrador's booster done got them to check microchip and it hasn't moved which is good.

Karen

Hi,
I have just done a course on microchipping and am now a fully licenced non veterianry implanter of microchips. Apparently migration is due to bad implanting (Generally vets doing them like vaccinations).

Ian

Hi Ian,
Are they keeping records of how many go 'walkabout' yet or how many have to be removed?

Maybe you will know as you have just done the course

By the way, we had a big debate about Microchipping a little while ago. Very Interesting.

You bought a dog in from Holland too didn't you. Has your chip moved at all?

Leigh

Hi Leigh,
It seems that figures for migration are getting lower and lower. Chip manufacturers are keeping records and I think any problems associated with the chip I have been trained to implant are at around one in one hundred thousand europe wide.

The chip must be implanted betweent eh shoulder blades to minimise migration.

My imported bitch has been implanted in her left shoulder, this leaves more scope for migration, but it has not in the year that she has been carrying the chip.

Re chipping pups, this is more of an issue of bulk and bodyfat rather than age. I am authorised to do animals down to hamster size, I am sure if I can do a hamster, I can do an 8 week old pup.

Ian

Bears chip only started to move in the last couple of months Ian. I will be seeing the dutch vet at the end of the month and see whether they are keeping any records on migration. I have a scanner so its not hard for me to keep an eye on it.

When I contacted the chip manufacturers by e-mail they never replied, sent two. When I phoned them they couldn't care less, they just said blame the person who did it. Don't think they bothered taking my details down.

Guess which dog it went missing on!!!!

Of the five dogs micro chipped at our session only one was micro chipped by a vet, that was the American import. The others were done by people trained to microchip and the operator there that evening had brought his own dog for testing. It's microchip was in the shoulder!

Just out of curiosity my new puppy a German Shepherd who I'll be getting at 8 weeks old will have already been micro chipped- Opinions on this would be gratefully received due to size etc and the huge size this breed grows to- does anyone think this will cause/prove a problem

For what it is worth, I think that it is up to individual owners to decide on this, but my decision whether to chip my dogs or not, will not change until the day the first RSPCA man has a microchip injected, into him, between his shoulders and can tell me it does not hurt, does not migrate, and it can still be read several years later! I think we don't know enough about the way microchips affect any animal yet, and they can't tell us! I was told Battersea keep records of the chips they implant and they have found some which have gone astray, or have disappeared altogether from the dog. Black thorns go into a dog and move about, sometimes they emerge weeks later, and less seen by the owner coming out, would be missed completely.

I too wish we knew more about the implocations - for example men have carried shrapnel around in their bodies for years haven't they - anyone know about any adverse affects here?

How does the dog react when chipped - I have never actually seen it done!! I would think something the size of a grain of rice would hurt - but if done very quickly and deftly maybe not...

I want to have my dog done, but I'm just not sure....

I have heard about vets "injecting" into the scruff rather than properly implanting betweenthe shoulder blades....does anyone know how this can be avoided, as I'm not sure I would know just by watching my vet "do the deed".....

Lindsay

I have chipped tiny 8 week old jack russell pups without a murmur. On the other hand I chipped a Staffy lab cross who tried to ake my hand off! It realy is down to the temperament of the dog rather than size. The big dogs seem to be more of a baby than the little ones.

Leigh,

The standard place for some of the foreign vets to chip is in the side of the neck - do you have any idea where Bear's chip was originally?

Christine