ArcaMax

Conti answers her own rhetorical question: "The 900 companies are in the business of selling chips, all right, but (they're) obviously not in the business of recovering lost pets, which is the entire idea."

The appeal of the 900-only chips, by all accounts, is that they simply cost less for unaware veterinarians or shelters to buy. Sometimes that savings is passed on to the general public, but perhaps at the expense of a pet's life. (Microchips typically cost from $40 to $60, including registration of owner contact information.)

Buying a 900-only chip may be no bargain.

One of those 900 companies, K9Microchips, has this wording on its own website: "We make no promise to keep information on who purchases microchips, nor to document which microchips are shipped to which customers." The implication is that the company makes no promise to maintain a database of customers. (My emails to K9Microchips have generated no response. Reaching out to two other 900 microchip companies likewise yielded no response).

Conti and Smith aren't the only ones who've been unable to reunite any dogs or cats with their owners using the data from 900-only chips.

"I've lost sleep over these issues because I have no doubt that pets have lost their lives," says John Bowman, supervisor Norman, OK Animal Welfare. "Municipal shelter systems only have so much space. If an animal can't be identified, then there's a cost associated for an animal to be housed in a shelter. And if the pet isn't claimed by the owner, the reality is that not all pets get adopted."

Conti adds, "And that poor family who lost a pet thought they were doing the right thing by microchpping, not knowing that they may have purchased one of these 900-only chips. In reality, they may never see their pet again."

Several years back, to help everyone involved navigate the often confusing world of microchipping, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), a leading proponent of chipping, began a non-branded online "pet look up service." By entering a microchip number on the AAHA website, individuals have another way to determine the company a chip belongs to. However, some 900-only companies don't participate in this program.

Dr. Michael Cavanaugh, AAHA executive director, didn't know about the 900-chip issue. And he's not alone.

"I've not spoken with a veterinarian who's aware of the issue, or a pet owner who knows about it. That's why it's so essential we get the word out," Smith says.

It's ironic that May happens to be Chip Your Pet Month.

The lesson here is, buyer beware.

"Of course, companies must be reputable. Microchipping is more than about getting a microchip into a pet; it's about pet owners updating their information when they move or change contact information, and it's about pet recovery," says Cavanaugh. "A microchip without a responsible recovery service means little."

========

(c) 2015 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.