Microchip migration

[Maralynn]

I was petting Kenzi the other day and was pretty sure I felt her microchip in the side of her front leg - a good 6-8 inches below the top of her shoulder blade. Hard little cylinder about the size of a grain of rice.

 

I've never personally had a dog/seen a dog chipped, but always assumed it was done pretty much done in the area on top of the neck between the shoulder blades. Is this correct? And then do they occasionally migrate like that?

[Liz P]

Yes, sometimes they can migrate quite far. You can go to your vet and they should be able to scan it for you. If they confirm it is the chip, you can choose to have another one put in. Shelters might miss a chip that has migrated that far.

[Gideon's girl]

They are well known for migrating. One of my dog's breeders would not chip or reccommend chipping because she had one migrate to her dog's elbow and then cause all kinds of problems including a massive infection where the chip was pressed between the ground and the bone.

[Liz P]

Complications are pretty rare. I still think the benefits outweigh the risks and will continue to implant them in my dogs.

[Gideon's girl]

Same here. It's still one of the first things I have done to my new pups. By the way, old chips are more likely to migrate farther than the new ones. Chip makers put a special coating on the chip that basically causes minor scarring and the chip is less able to travel through the scar tissue, at that's how it was explained to me last July.

[Cynthia P]

Preachers chip has migrated into his chest area. When we were xraying his elbows, the tech said...and there is his chip, not in the right place.

 

We haven't had him redone but it might not be a bad idea.

 

Cynthia

[tastybeets]

If a chip migrates like that (especially into an area where it might cause issues like into the leg area), is it suggested to have it removed or just... leave it and hope for the best?

[Gideon's girl]

Most people don't even know that a chip can migrate until they are already having a problem with it.

[mum24dog]

old chips are more likely to migrate farther than the new ones.

 

This.

 

The only one of mine that has moved any significant distance is the one in my 14 year old.

 

All the others in dogs aged between 7 and 12 havre stayed put.

[BCjetta]

I have a 14.5yr old, 8 year old, a 2 year old, and a 13.5yr old cat and a 12yr old cat. I chipped all mine personally and none of their chips have moved. I do notice at work when we have animals under anesthetic for spays/neuters when some of the other techs are doing it, it doesn't look like they are putting it right center over the shoulder blades. It can be hard to tell exactly where the middle of the back is when they are laying on their side. I usually try to tip them sternal first so I know I'm putting it in the right spot. We have had some client's dogs with chips that migrated...the worst being behind the dog's front leg and midway down the ribcage. In that case we removed the chip and redid it.

 

I wonder sometimes if part of it is the dog itself. Some have a huge amount of excess loose skin over their shoulders and it makes me wonder if a chip would be more likely to move in a dog with loose skin like that versus one with tighter skin. I also wonder if chipping the puppies that will still grow a lot would make the chip more likely to move since the animal is growing. We havent seen enough issues with migration to make any thoughts on why sometimes the chip migrates.