If you are like me the first question going through your mind is probably: “But will it make my pet run faster”.

Contrary to popular belief this chip will not increase your horse's power or improve your cattle’s feed conversion rate.

What a Microchip can and cannot do:

A microchip contains a serial number unique to your pet. The veterinarian can use her handheld scanner to read the chip and then try and locate the pet on the numerous databases available.

We have found the “chipndoodle” search engine helpful in the past as it links up to about 46 active databases where, in the ideal world, you will be able to punch in your unique number and your pet's information will be pulled from the database that it was registered on.

If you can not find what you are looking for you will need to go to each database/website individually and search through them one at a time.

While microchipping pets can help reunite an animal with his family, the technology does have limitations that pet parents should understand. If you move or your phone number changes and you don't notify the microchip company, your pet's microchip will have outdated information.

If your pet goes out gallivanting and is found by a vet or clinician, they will have no way of contacting you, so always make sure to keep your contact information up to date.

This is one of the main reasons that we encourage our pet owners to go through the registration process in order for them to be able to change their contact details in future even if they decide to start using another veterinarian.

How to get my pet into the system:

At My Pets Vet, we implant Virbacs’ BackHome Bioglass Mini Transponders that are smaller, weigh less, and have a special parylene layer that reduces possible migration of the microchip. Virbac also has a website where the pet owner can update their contact details or register a new chip https://www.backhome.co.za/home/pet-owner.

The millennial will also be extremely excited to hear that this also comes in an app version that you will be able to download from the Play Store “Virbac BackHome Africa” if you are an Apple user you will be glad to hear that Virbac decided to pay those crazy fees to also make this application available to you.

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