I am planning a return to the US in the near future (no more than one year from now). As anyone on here knows, I have two kitties I love dearly: my 5-1/2 year old blue-eyed cutie pie Isalu (rescued on a rainy night from a busy intersection after Typhoon Nari while fuckwits stood around commenting about the cat meowing itself hoarse) and my 1-1/2 dog wannabe Mariposa.
I have actually put off my return because of worry, not just about getting myself set up back home, but also getting my two cuties back home with as few hitches as possible. But there is one major obstacle which I think is the most difficult: I refuse to let my cats get chipped. I do not want anything inserted into my cats unless it is to save their lives. From what I understand, taking my kitties to the US, it’s something I may not have a choice over… Hell, I might have to be chipped too before they let me back in. They already missed meeting their American cousin Mokey who passed away this summer, and only Isalu has met my mom when she came here. My sister is thrilled to finally meet them after all the stories and pictures I’ve sent her. But I refuse to force them getting chips which may mean that I will have to give them up. I love them that much.
I know there are people more than willing to point their fingers at anyone who would be willing to give up their pets, but I love them too much to force them to undergo something as unnecessary as getting implanted with chips. They are unique enough in their markings that I think an official photograph signed by their vets would do (Isalu even has a mark on his side that looks like a lower-case ‘i’ when he’s sitting ). I am very attached to them and anytime I have someone watch them when I make my trips back home, I ask for updates via email (one couple even sent me photographs) because I think about them when I am away from them. I brag about them all the time and the funny things they do because they make me so happy.
I can’t imagine my life without them, but I can’t also live with letting someone deface their bodies because of some stupid regulation.
Please, please, please tell me there is a way to avoid having to get my babies injected with chips to take them home with me!
Putting a microchip in a cat is a very simple and safe procedure (though if it stresses you out it would be better for the cat that you’re not present when it happens). But I do understand your desire to not put anything inside your cats unless to save their lives.
So consider this: if your cats ever go missing or get stolen, they will be returned to you as soon as someone scans them for a chip; no chip, and the mortal clock starts ticking away toward a ten-day deadline in which you must establish if your cat really is missing before embarking on a stressful and depressing tour of every animal shelter in and around your area.
Essentially, the chip really is a lifesaver. I have seen too many pets lost and too many distraught owners in tears because they had not had this simple procedure performed on their beloved companion animal.
I completely understand why you wouldn’t do any kind of medical procedure on your cats unless absolutely necessary, but, in my opinion, this is a vitally important procedure, just as are vaccinating and neutering one’s pet.
Sincerely hope you weigh up the differences and see that the pros far outweigh the cons where microchipping is concerned, especially when the stresses and uncertainties of giving them up are taken into consideration. To me, letting the animal go to someone else is by far the riskier procedure.
Yes, it is necessary. To my knowledge, you can not take your four legged friend with you unless he/she is chipped.
FYI, only about a minute after the chip is inserted, a cat doesn’t even show signs of discomfort. None. It’s done with and your pet is then assured to have a far better chance to live the rest of its life with you. To me, that is an expression of love toward a pet far more than to risk re-homing.
Seriously, chipping is not a big deal for a cat, and that is why animals lovers just like you recommend this practice world-wide. Re-homing animals, however, is not quite as popular among animal lovers, and for very good reasons in the opinion of many, many people.
At the end of the day, it’s your cat, and it’s your decision to make. I’m just replying to your post and telling you what I think about it.
Do most decent vets do chipping for cats? Both your comments, Stray Dog and Bobepine, have me leaning towards getting my two guys done in the not too distant future.
Stupid question, but where exactly does the chip end up on/in the cat?
Thanks for any help or pointing me in the right direction.
Just FYI, the chip can travel a little under the skin, which is why you must scan the whole front half of the dog, if not all, when looking for one. But some new chips have a coating that bonds with the skin tissue and therefore gets held in place.
Yes. Peace of mind for Sandman. And for all owners.
By the way, I don’t know about Taipei, although I assume it’s the same, many vets here in Kaohsiung have chips which are supplied by the government. If you get your animal spayed or neutered, the chip is free, and they do it while the animal is under.
Edit: There is also a topical anesthetic our vet uses to implant the chip on animals that are awake. It’s just a spray, no needles. It freezes the tissues locally, and the animal doesn’t feel a thing. Worth asking your vet about it to make this exprerience even more of a piece of cake for your pet. My vet used it on my hand when I got bit by a dog recently. It works!
I know that the procedure is quite simple and relatively painless, but can a local topical anesthetic ALSO be applied before the chip insertion so that the cat really feels nothing? Perhaps this optional practice would help convince reluctant owners like ImaniOU? Just wondering.
Unfortunately, I believe there are many misconceptions about chipping. My cats are seen by two different vets. Both refused to chip them. One said she was concerned about putting a foreign body in my cat’s body; the other argued that it was no use since nobody would be able to approach my cats and grab them long enough to scan them. I was dissapointed to say the least about this attitude from otherwise very good doctors.
Furthermore, as what I have are indoor cats, maybe they thought the kitties wouldn’t need them. However, as it may be, the unthinkable happened: one day one of the cats got out and stayed on the street for a couple of days (he came back on his own after he was done with his business). If they had had their chips, I would have been less of a nervous wreck.
[quote]One said she was concerned about putting a foreign body in my cat’s body[/quote]Then she’s an idiot. It’s one thing for the uninformed or ignorant to have such an baseless, ill-founded opinion. It’s quite another for a professional who should know better to have such a hare-brained attitude.
Microchips have been in use all over the world for many years in both wild animal populations and in pets, without any ill-effects whatsoever. I suppose she’d therefore also be against putting a pacemaker, for example, into her dear old mother to keep her alive?
That your vet doesn’t know about something as simple as chipping casts doubt for me on her job skills in other areas of her work.
The vet who mentioned the difficulty of catching a runaway cat in order to read the chip is not quite so daft – but only marginally less so. Our cats, for example, would quite happily go up to anyone who held out a hand to them.
There really are some arsehole vets here, there’s no doubt. Did you know that a lot of them won’t euthanize an animal, no matter how badly it’s suffering, because of fear of bad karma or somesuch? Fucking twats.
If you’re incapable of doing the job, do something else instead, fuckwit.
Tell that to the feral cats I saw at the Taipei Animal Shelter being scanned while still in the trap they were caught in.
My oh my. That is very ignorant of the vet (to think you would buy such a ridiculous excuse).
No matter which country I am or which vet I use, I always do a little online research to check out anything I am told. I just hope the rest of this vet’s customers do the same thing.
Microchipping is the safest option, full stop (period).
As you say, I suspect they both used silly excuses because they do not offer this service. On the other hand, the woman vet is involved with a local CNR program and helps strays for free. Other reason would be -as Sandman said- would be that they have these myths -passed on from their instructors at vet college- and just do not question the rationality behind them -if any. I meant to share this so no one else will be derailed in their commitment to getting the chip as extra assurance for their pets well-being (which is what we all care about).
Now, I never give any medicine to the cats without asking what is in it and looking it up, as I never take those bags of pills we get here at the human doctor without full disclosure. As I said, normally both vets (one close to my house, the other at the next MRT station) and who both have seen my cats for over 5 years, tend to be professional, conscientious in their examinations, and caring. That this chipping issue was a point of friction between us was shocking and an unfortunate dissapointment for me. It also makes my life a bit harder as I had to look for a different vet, one my cats did not know, to get through the procedures, and to make matters worse, because transportation of multiple cats is no simple matter, I have not finished chipping them all yet.
One very important study performed several years ago found that many (a majority of) vets did not offer/suggest spaying or neutering, and even tried to talk customer’s out of it, because, in their own words, they believed it would be bad for business.
Remember, though, that what we often see as stupidity or selfishness (or cruelty or abuse) is often more accurately explained as ignorance. But a vet should not be ignorant as to the importance of such procedures, to the health of the animal as well as the animal population as a whole.
BTW, Icon, I hope none of our comments above were seen as digs at you! Sandman gets a bit carried away at times (which is why has him microchipped) but his rant was aimed at the vet, of course. Hope you can find a good vet near you. :s (Where are you - maybe I can offer some suggestions).
Good point. No-one answered ImaniOU’s original question. No, chipping is not a requirement. But I personally would definitely get it done. Cats moving to a strange place could easily wander off and get lost and I’d feel less stressed if I knew they were identifiable. A collar and nametag would work just as well of course – providing the cat was wearing the collar when it ran off and that it didn’t later slip the collar.
Good point. No-one answered ImaniOU’s original question. No, chipping is not a requirement. But I personally would definitely get it done. Cats moving to a strange place could easily wander off and get lost and I’d feel less stressed if I knew they were identifiable. A collar and nametag would work just as well of course – providing the cat was wearing the collar when it ran off and that it didn’t later slip the collar.[/quote]
Good point. And I would have to say people back in the west are more willing to make the effort when they come across a lost pet to return it to it’s owners… a chip would make it so much easier I would think.