Dud microchip could have lost family its Marbles
A Palmerston North cat owner who generally supports proposals to make microchipping cats mandatory has discovered her own pet Marbles’ microchip was a dud.
Marilyn Bulloch heard in March that some cats could be wandering around with faulty Zirbac Biotec microchips.
The next day she received a letter from The New Zealand Companion Animal Register telling her Marbles’ microchip came from a batch between 2009 and 2012 in which faults had been recorded.
A trip to the vet yesterday confirmed the scanner could not detect the 18-year-old cat’s microchip.
A new one was inserted free of charge at the company’s expense.
‘‘We did it originally just in case she got lost, so she could be identified,’’ Bulloch said.
‘‘She’s probably a low risk now – she doesn’t go far – but it’s good to have that feeling of security, in case she got stolen or mixed up.’’
But peace of mind depended on certainty that the microchip worked.
Zirbac marketing and technical manager Ian Pryor said it was hard to estimate how many cats might be affected by the microchip uncertainty.
Not all microchips in the affected batches were faulty, and many of the cats implanted with the chips would have died.
Palmerston North vet Malcolm Anderson said he advised cat owners to have their pets microchipped, which was easily done for about $65 when young cats were under anaesthetic for desexing.
It was a one-off cost, and meant any cat found separated from its owner could be quickly scanned, its bar code checked against the online register, identified, and reunited with its family.
His practice had not used the Virbac chips, and had recorded no problems with faulty chips.
Palmerston North City councillors are due to debate whether microchipping should be mandatory in May.