Microchip law ‘could be deadly for smaller dogs’

A LAW requiring puppies to be microchipped could kill smaller breeds, a vet has warned.

Richard Allport believes small dogs chipped at eight weeks could have ‘serious adverse reactions’ when the device is injected between their shoulders.

The law, which comes into force on Wednesday, requires owners to have dogs aged eight weeks and over microchipped or face a fine of £500.

Dr Allport, who runs the Natural Medicine Centre in Hertfordshire, supports microchipping in general but says it could kill breeds such as chihuahuas.

The vet, whose dog has had the operation, said: ‘In my view dogs should be fully grown before microchips are put in.’

He added: ‘To bring the law into this in my mind is completely unwarranted ...My advice to people who don’t want their dogs microchipped is to sit tight and do nothing.’

The microchips, which are the size of a grain of rice, have a unique 15-digit code that can be read by a scanner.

Dogs must already have a collar and tag with their owner’s details on it, but the electronic chips are a more reliable record.

While 83 per cent of owners have had their dog microchipped, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs says some 1.45million have not.

Several animals have died after having the procedure. In 2009, a Yorkshire terrier named Scotty developed cancer at the site of his implant and died aged six. In the same year, a chihuahua, Charlie Brown, died within hours of being chipped after suffering ‘an extreme amount of bleeding’ from the hole left by the needle, according to Dr Reid Loken, the vet who carried out the procedure in California.

The claim that microchipping could kill was denounced as ‘scaremongering’ by Sean Wensley, the president of the British Veterinary Association, who said microchipping is ‘a routine and harmless procedure’.

Paula Boyden, veterinary director of the Dogs Trust, said the law was ‘an essential part of animal welfare law in England’.

More than 102,000 stray or stolen dogs are found each year. Their care costs charities and local authorities £33million a year.