how accurate is your microchip

[Millys Mum]

Wouldnt you vet have scanned said chip to check it was working before inserting it?

This has to be data base error or duplication of microchip numbers either way it has serious implications.

Thats much more likely, broken chips comming back to life at the appropriate moment is ridiculous 

[Dawn F]

they would be the same colour wouldn't they - the whole chip coming to life thing doesn't take into account that you both have paperwork though does it? 

[Teresa Pawcats]

This is scary especially as both my vet and other party have paperwork to same chip and cat involved is same colour. There is no mistake on chip number on my cat who for legal purposes was returned to me yesterday trouble it it slips my mind where I put him.
Seriously when you chip a cat and rehome him you dont expect someone to claim him on the chip you put in months previous. It is now being suggested that I pay for xrays to see if he has 2 chips inside on the basis that the chip he now has was broken when we rescued him and scanned him and also broken when our vet scanned him, it is suggested that my vet put broken chip into him and when he scanned cat the broken original chip somehow came to life at that second when vet scanned to check new implant working.
This has to be data base error or duplication of microchip numbers either way it has serious implications.
Just for record I have a fight on with CP from outside my area over this.

[Desley (booktigger)]

That is a scary story T, it will be interesting to hear the outcome of it.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

That is just amazing Teresa, very strange situation and agree with others that the owners of the missing cat should give a description, age and pictures of the missing cat.

No two numbers should be the same and I reckon there is an error on the chip companies database, cos all data there is only as good as the person who entered it.

The owners of missing cat should have the barcode and everything for their cat and then your ex rescue cat and the missing cats details can be compared from the paperwork.

I have all of mine scanned at their MOT and all chips were present and correct last summer.

[Tiggy's Mum]

Do the descriptions of the two cats tally Teresa?  Is there a chance that this cat is the original 'missing' cat?  If not I can't understand why the other people would want to claim him.  Having said that if one of the boys went missing and then I was told that a cat with the matching microchip number had been found I'd prsume that it was of course my cat and want to claim him.

[Millys Mum]

My lot get scanned every vet trip  drives the vets nuts.

[Den]

My animals are microchipped but I'm not a fan of them since I had a less than positive experience.

I got Molly chipped when I had her at 8 weeks. Fast forward to when she was a year old .... I took her to the vet to get her booster shots done, then they scanned her to make sure her chip was ok. They couldn't actually find it, so the vet tried with another scanner. They tried I think 3 or 4 different scanners including a hand held one. 3 people tried to find the chip and couldn't. They recommended I take her to a different practice and try it there. I did, had different scanners and different people and they still couldn't find the chip. They were scanning the whole of her incase it had migrated.

The assumption was the chip had fallen out not longer after it was put in which is apparently possible. After doing some research of my own it could also be that the chip failed.

I can't help to think what would have happened if she had gone missing during that year .. they would have be looking for an animal that was chipped. I just don't trust them any more and would never put 100% faith in them.

I was quite mad when I found out - they re-chipped her free of charge. Now I have a problem that Molly is petrified of the scanners 

[Angiew]

Very strange.
Having been on the chipping course , there is no way this should have happened as presumably, the number of the chip was checked against the paperwork pre-impant and also after to ensure the chip was in place. The barcode stickers from the packet the chip is in are stuck to the paperwork. The vet should have kept a copy of the form for the practise as the implanter.

three possiblilties spring to mind - 1) has a type appeared on the number , get the cat scanned again incase someone has written a wrong number down along the way.  2) the cat these people now have is not the cat they were given or 3) the original chip was missed and the implanted one either does not work or fell out soon after it was implanted.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

T that is atrocious that the cheeky wotsits can claim the cat! How horrible can someone be to do that! 

Dawn is right the cat's can't be identical so I would dare them to give you an accurate description of their cat!

I'm going to check with Caroline. Can't imagine someone telling me Lexy belongs to them. I'm with Petlog.

[Dawn F]

that's incredible - is for the same company, I have three with petlog and one with identichip - hopefully the two cats look nothing alike T

[Teresa Pawcats]

Had a cat microchipped 3months ago and rehomed him, new owner tried to transfer ownership to herself and was refused because the number of his microchip that my vet implanted in front of me is already in use by a cat elsewhere who just happens to be missing.I scanned cat when I rescued him and vet scanned him,no chip found. We have scanned every inch of his body and only microchip is the one implanted by my vet and registered to me;and as the other registered person has this number first  they get first claim to the cat and would you believe cheeky so and so`s want said cat, over my dead body. I dont believe this is happening.

Its a good idea to have microchips scanned regularly to check they work and also check details are correct.