removing a microchip?

[Eileen Stein]

Does anybody know whether a microchip can be removed, and if so, how big a deal it is? A friend asked me, and I don't know the answer. I told her to ask her vet, but now I'm curious. This would be the same owner and the same vet who put in the microchip in the first place, not that long ago. Thanks.

[JohnLloydJones]

I don't know the answer, but I am also interested in this. I have a dog who was chipped when I got her, but I may need to travel via Europe and, as I understand, her current chip doesn't comply with the requirements for travel.

[MrSnappy]

Yes it can be removed, though it requires surgery. Legally speaking, it's not supposed to be removed as it's a form of permanent ID, but I would imagine that with it being the same owner and the same vet, there is some kind of loophole.

 

If a current chip does not comply with international standards, the dog is to be chipped a second time with the compliant chip.

 

RDM

[JohnLloydJones]

If a current chip does not comply with international standards, the dog is to be chipped a second time with the compliant chip.

Is that practical? Isn't there an issue with readers finding one, but not the other? Have you had experience with reading dual chipped dogs?

[Mildly off topic, but yesterday, our rescue had a request from another rescue, to chip a dog and, as is our practice, we scanned the dog, only to find a chip. The person who had the dog, said that it had been scanned by her vet and was told the dog was not chipped. Happy ending: with the chip number, the original owner was contacted and the two were re-united. Chip readers are not always reliable (and I guess there are potential issues with both the device as well as the person holding it).]

[ObeytheBC]

Microchips are not often removed because it is a *PAIN* to do so. A microchip is inserted underneath the skin and can migrate, although some try to implant it closer to the muscle than others. This is why when you scan for a microchip, you tend to do EVERYWHERE, including down the neck and toward the tail because the microchip rarely stays exactly where it is implanted.

 

So when you try to remove one, there are several things to think about. In many dogs you can not feel the microchip any longer. Puppies or new implants can often be found by touch, but over time with migration and attaching on top of a muscle layer, you can not always simply feel it. A scanner does not have to be exactly on top of it for it to register - case in point, I put one in a puppy, under anesthesia for neuter, and then went to scan it and it picked up in a completely different place then where I put it and there wasn't time for migration. Radiographs will also pick up on them, but it is difficult to get an exact feel for where it is. So, surgery may involve a larger incision or multiple incisions.

 

For this reason, most people would double microchip if they did not use an ISO chip (international standard chip) the first time. While two microchips might be a problem if you just adopted the dog and can't register that first chip at a parent company, two chips do not make such a problem if they are both registered to the proper owner. Because say the dog has two chips, one is ISO. So they are over seas - well thier scanner will only get the ISO chip any way. Gets loose here in the US, one will get scanned and it will have owner registration any ways.

 

Now, altering a pet's microchip will also affect a dog that has permenant id registered to a breed/dog registry, OFA, or any other registry that requires a permenant ID. So multiple chips or a change in chip should be recorded. Equally, you should have your pet scanned at yearly vet visits because I have seen cases of chips migrating out of pets or, if a pet is wounded, the loss of a chip. Better safe than sorry!

 

I am not sure I would want to put my dog under anesthesia - or even heavy sedation with chance for anesthesia - just to remove a chip. But that is an owner's call.

[Gideon's girl]

That about covers it. The vet will scan to find the general location of the chip, then shave the area to try to narrow down the area of the chip. Then he should mark the spot where he thinks the chip is at. Next comes a small incision over the spot, if it was the right spot, he might have to take a little tissue with the chip because they have a coating on them that is supposed to cause scarring and adhesion so the chip doesn't migrate too much. If it was the wrong spot, he might enlarge the incision or move to a different spot altogether. Each incision should only take 1-2 sutures to close. All of this happens with anesthesia. Not a risk I would take, myself.

 

Many dogs have multiple chips. That's what I would do.