Record pets.

When the chips are down

IT WASN’T the owner who brought him in, so one of the first things we did was scan him for a microchip.

Sometimes, it is not as easy as it seems.

ISO standard microchips are supposed to be positioned so they end up located between the shoulder blades where they are readily and quickly identifiable. The process should be easy.

With the animal positioned squarely, the needle is inserted through the skin and a short rod pushes the chip out the barrel and into the tissue. No problem, eh?

Ah, but it is. With seemingly every Tom, Dick and Harry now doing it, chips end up all over the place.

If they are placed too far forward, near the neck, they tend to migrate down to the forelegs.

When they are not put centrally, they can slide down the sides of the body, ending up along the sternum.

One poor chihuahua suffered having a chip put BY NEIL McINTOSH through the skull into the brain. Not done by a vet, I hasten to add.

The bottom line is, where once scanning for a chip took seconds, now we spend a long time checking everywhere.

Luckily, a chip was located in our stray and the 15-digit number recorded so that we could check for his owner’s details.

Once done, we cleaned up his wounds as best we could and laid him carefully on a blanket in a quiet room, far away from the madding crowd, as it were.

Our hopes, however, were dashed when a computer search revealed that the microchip was not actually registered to anyone.

It is not as uncommon as you think.

In the chaos of the lead-up to microchipping becoming Championship Show in Dumfries. Secretary: Mrs R McCormick, 11 West View, Lymington, Esh compulsory in April 2016, numerous agencies were offering it.

Some vets ran out of chips and I recall that we personally chipped 147 dogs in 24 hours. The end result was predictable.

Where owners were left to register the chip themselves, many simply forgot or just didn’t get round to it.

And, of course, others did register their pets but have since moved house, changed their phone numbers and so on.

The result can be all very frustrating and time consuming.

When we should really have been able to contact the owner in seconds, now begins the tortuous process of trying to find them through social media, the police and by word of mouth.

None of it will affect our little stray chihuahua, unfortunately. He died of his injuries shortly after a devastated driver picked him up off the road.

Another very sad DOA. Winning, Durham, DH7 9NJ. Call: 0191 660 8389. Entries close September 23/online September 30. ••••••••••