Microchipping

Thousands of dogs, cats and other pets are lost or stolen every year and many are sadly never reunited with their owners.  Microchipping your pet gives them the best chance of being identified and returned to you if they get lost or stolen as the chips cannot be removed easily (unlike a collar and tag).  

What is microchipping? 

Microchipping is a very simple procedure which involves inserting a small chip with a unique 15 digit serial number under the pet’s skin (usually between the shoulder blades on the back of the neck) with an appropriately sized needle. This number can then be read by a handheld scanner and checked against a centralised microchip database to help reunite lost pets quicker with their registered keeper.   

When can microchipping be done?

There are legal requirements for dogs and, as of June 2024, cats to be microchipped by a certain age.  We can place microchips in conscious, sedated or anaesthetised animals.  If you have any questions, please speak with one of our team.   

Legal requirements 

DOGS: It is a legal requirement to microchip all dogs over the age of 8 weeks, and ensure that the details associated with the chip are kept up to date.   

CATS: Whilst it is currently not a legal requirement, the government have recently released new legislation giving cat owners until the 10^th June 2024 to get their cats microchipped.  At this point it will be a legal requirement for all cats to be microchipped by the time they are 20 weeks old, and owners must ensure that the details associated with the chip are kept up to date.  

OTHER ANIMALS: There are currently no legal requirements to microchip any other animals that we treat at The Animal House.  However, we are happy to microchip most pets on request.  Please talk to one of our lovely team if you have any queries.  

What happens when a stray animal comes into our practice? 

Whenever a stray animal is brought in to our practices, one of the first things we do is to scan for a microchip and check on the central database for registered details.  We then make every attempt to contact the numbers provided to reunite animals with their owners.  If we are unable to make contact, we will put out notifications on our social media pages if appropriate.  The dog warden will be notified and will collect any stray dog that we are unable to reunite with their owner.  Any stray cats, if it isn’t suitable to return them to where they were found, will be kept in the practice for 7 days and then rehomed to suitable homes.  You may often see a cat at our staff room window in Rugby as we do our best to ensure they have a comfortable, stress free and loving stay with us before we find their forever home.