Micro chip rant

Aparently Home Again is selling some info for advertising. I've had two fosters that I chipped and kept myself as primary. One I had for less than a week after the neuter. I suddenly started getting sales with Buddy as my dog that I need to buy a whole lot of things for.
 
I paid for Tasha to be chipped when she was spayed at five months old. Didn't think much about it, but when I took her to a new vet a five and at half years old, there was no sign of a chip. I also don't remember filling out paperwork when she was a pup. He's a former vet due to lack of our confidence. Because, well, there's a lot of things I've learned better about. One instance is heartwom tests. My dogs were on medication but never tested. I didn't know better.
 
Would I pay $15.00 per year, per dog. Yes. We don't use collars at home.

Just got Kord chipped today. After reading the material I am debating if I want to register. Now my vet told me that there is a one time $17.50 charge. The thing that bothers me the most is the selling of information.
 
Decisions.

That blows! I've never heard of so much microchip trouble. In the state I live in at least, it's the law to microchip your pet. It costs $25 to purchase one and have it implanted and that's it. The information stays on one database that can be accessed by the local councils so they know who to call if they pick up your dog on the street. Although, they have been known to call several days after picking up your dog. All the shelters have access to the info as well. I've never heard of chips migrating around so much, either. Our vet checks them every now and then and they're always in the same place.

I use this one.  Free registry and no annual fee. 

http://www.24petwatch.com/index.asp

That's odd - I have both my dog and my cat chipped with HomeAgain, and neither one has migrated, and I don't pay a yearly fee...the activation cost was covered by my school as part of a promo, but I weas told there *was* no yearly fee (not that the school would pay for that too - just that there *wasn't* one). This was only a year ago. 

Is this fee something recent?
 
Heh, I actually did the chipping myself...I have never stuck a needle so frigging big into any of my animal ever before. Ginny just looked suprised, and the cat - well, I just put a bowl of food in front of her and she didn't care a whit [] greedy little pudgeball.

That's odd - I have both my dog and my cat chipped with HomeAgain, and neither one has migrated, and I don't pay a yearly fee...the activation cost was covered by my school as part of a promo, but I weas told there *was* no yearly fee (not that the school would pay for that too - just that there *wasn't* one). This was only a year ago.  Is this fee something recent? Heh, I actually did the chipping myself...I have never stuck a needle so frigging big into any of my animal ever before. Ginny just looked suprised, and the cat - well, I just put a bowl of food in front of her and she didn't care a whit  greedy little pudgeball.

I'm a little confused as well, Otto was chipped with a homeagain chip in april, it was a $20 one time fee, no yearly fee, hasn't migrated. No problem at all, they never asked for my credit card. I get e-mail notifications when pets are lost in my zip code from homeagain. I even uploaded a picture of otto for free so if he ever is lost they will send out email with his picture free of charge to those in my zip code as well. Migration shouldn't be a problem, I've never seen prosthetics migrate that quickly of any sort before. Foreign bodies migrate up not in (natural tissue response) and it shouldn't effect your pet. Sounds like the OP's experience may be some sort of misunderstanding IMO, not the norm for this chip. My cat that just passed had one as well that was placed about 5 years ago at another vet, no annual fee as well or problem. My brother's dog has a homeagain chip again with no problem.

where do they put the tatoos?

 
No one answered your question. I may be wrong, but I think the tattoo is placed in one of the ears.
 

where do they put the tatoos?

No one answered your question. I may be wrong, but I think the tattoo is placed in one of the ears.

 
 
Tattooing used to be done on the ears and lips. However, ears can be cut off and lips can be clipped to remove a tattoo. Tattoos now are applied to the inner leg or stomach. Frequently, the owner's social security number is used. The tattoo procedure does not require a vet.
 
Unless the owner would be able to stand to have a tattoo, don't expect your pet to go through all that, the animal has to be held down....so much for avoiding stressful situations

No the OP did not misunderstand.  The migrating chip was moving down per vet and xrays.  Never said this was a common event in micro chipping,  just a rare event.

The annual fee is apparently new.  The current application requires 29.95 annually, and they prefer to have your credit card and they sell your information when and where they please.

Tattoos are also found on the thigh (mostly where Nora's will go), many dogs have ear leather that is too dark for a tatoo to be legible.

I *think* that annual fee has to do with being in their nation-wide data base. That's how they were selling it to me anyway.

Our shelter used to chip with HomeAgain chips until they started charging the yearly membership fee. We were told it was a $19.99/yr membership fee per chip/animal that was registered and that allowed the person to update the records of their pets, send out flyers of the pet if it was lost, etc. The first year is free, then the fee starts after that year. If you don't need to update your records (i.e. the pet's vet info, your contact info, etc.), then you don't have to pay the membership fee per year and your information will still remain in their database for tracing purposes should your pet go missing. If you move and need to update your contact info, then you have to pay the membership fee. At least that was how it was explained to us at the shelter; the problem we saw with this system was that we have a hard enough time getting people to register their chips at all, without a fee. The number of stray animals we have that come in with chips that are untraceable is far too high and we were concerned that this would only add to it by making people pay a fee to keep info updated.

We now use 24PetWatch chips and have had good luck with them. No yearly registration fee for the owners and they are cheaper for us to implant.

amelia and sydney are both chipped and registered with 24 pet watch. their chips were included as part of their adoption process.

hopefully, we never have to use them, but i am sure we will get emma chipped at some point too. our vet does the home again chips, and i figured we would get her chipped at a vet visit. i am glad this was posted as i dont want to pay an annual fee for something i can get for free if i go to the HS and get her chipped with 24 pet watch.

We are thinking of having our dogs tattooed and the trainer that does it says it doesn't hurt-it's not like
a person tattoo????? but what the dog  doesn't like is being on his/her back for 15 minutes. Is any of this
true?

Pam

What a rip off!!  We get Avid chips from the local shelter for $10 and there is NO other fees ever.  If you want to make an address change, it's $15, but if you call the shelter they can change it for your for free since they have access to the database.  The other shelter where I volunteer uses 24HrPetWatch for $15 and to my knowledge there are no additional fees.  I have an online account for my cat and I've change my contact info several times, as well as updated his pictures.  I only have to pay if I want to order more ID tags.

We are thinking of having our dogs tattooed and the trainer that does it says it doesn't hurt-it's not like
a person tattoo????? but what the dog doesn't like is being on his/her back for 15 minutes. Is any of this
true?

Pam

Having had 4 dogs tattooed, this has been my experience. In retrospect, the lab, who was CHD, was uncomfortable, but that was because of her hips and the position she was being held in not the tattoo itself. My first basenji, who had an awful temperament (didn't like anyone she didn't know, didn't like strangers touching her) was really, really good for it. And believe me, if a stranger was hurting her, she'd have made it clear. The two show dogs (also badsenjis) were so used to being handled, it didn't phase them at all. They had that "what are the crazy humans doing now?" look. None cried, yelped or even wiggled much.