In the UK alone it is estimated that more than £250 million a year is spent by local authorities, police forces and animal welfare charities rounding up and looking after stray cats and dogs. It is much harder to calculate the cost to both the owner and animal when a pet is lost. Microchips are a quick and efficient way to reunite pet owners with their lost animals, even across international frontiers.

Having a microchip implanted is quick and simple - just like an ordinary injection. Once it's done, it lasts a lifetime.

Microchips

Microchips are small tubes, hardly bigger than a grain of rice. The chip itself is encased in a special capsule, designed to sit comfortably under your pets skin.

Implantation

The microchip is injected into the animal using a wide-bore needle. If it's a dog, cat or rabbit this will be just under the loose skin of the neck, in other species (horses, birds, fish, small mammals, tortoises and reptiles) there are different specified sites on the body. No general anaesthetic is required although occasionally in some species a local painkiller may be used. Any pain is minor and short lived and the chip will stay under the skin surface for the rest of your pet's life.

The chip is sterile and although there is a very slight risk of introducing infection this could be treated easily. Rarely, the chip can move under the skin away from the original site, but as long as the chip stays intact it can be read anywhere in you pets body. To reduce the risk of the chip migrating like this, we recommend that kittens and puppies be over 4 months old before being microchipped.

How it Works

Every microchip has a unique 15-digit code. A microchip reader or scanner passed over the animal's body sends out a magnetic field which picks up the code imprinted on the chip and shows this on the screen. The code identifies your pet on the Petlog secure database, where all its details are registered - including its name, your name, address and phone number. The database is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's then just a simple case of giving you a call, and reuniting you with your pet as soon as possible.

A foolproof system

As the code is permanently embedded on the chip, there is no risk of the code being tampered with. The 15-digit code gives more than enough capacity for every pet in the world to be given their own unique number and there is international agreement on the technology used in all new chips and scanners can read all different makes of chip currently used.

Microchipping is a legal requirement for animals travelling abroad under DEFRA's Pet Travel Scheme and it is recommended in horses under the new Horse Passport Scheme.

To access the Petlog helpline call 0870 6066751 or e-mail: petlog@the-kennel-club.org.uk