Microchip question

[KDENISE977]

I have both my dogs microchipped. They were done at Calvert WPC and this was a few years ago. This morning I got an email that it's time for me to purchase a maintenance plan does anyone know anything about a maintenance plan for a microchip? The company is 24Pet Watch? I was not aware you have to pay for an annual maintenance of any sort? Anyone know about this?

TIA

 

[slotpuppy]

I have both my dogs microchipped. They were done at Calvert WPC and this was a few years ago. This morning I got an email that it's time for me to purchase a maintenance plan does anyone know anything about a maintenance plan for a microchip? The company is 24Pet Watch? I was not aware you have to pay for an annual maintenance of any sort? Anyone know about this?

TIA

They have to take the microchips out, put new batteries in them and put them back in the dogs.

 

[ICit]

I have both my dogs microchipped. They were done at Calvert WPC and this was a few years ago. This morning I got an email that it's time for me to purchase a maintenance plan does anyone know anything about a maintenance plan for a microchip? The company is 24Pet Watch? I was not aware you have to pay for an annual maintenance of any sort? Anyone know about this?

TIA

you should have registered the microchip with the company under YOUR NAME.... many companies offer a plan that comes with benifits in case your pup gets lost... but that should never impact the fact that if your dog gets lost and his chip is scanned they should still have all of your info!!

They have to take the microchips out, put new batteries in them and put them back in the dogs.

 

[slotpuppy]

you should have registered the microchip with the company under YOUR NAME.... many companies offer a plan that comes with benifits in case your pup gets lost... but that should never impact the fact that if your dog gets lost and his chip is scanned they should still have all of your info!!

Why do you ruin my fun?

 

[KDENISE977]

Why do you ruin my fun?

Fun?

 

[slotpuppy]

Fun?

I could picture you calling the vet and telling them you need new batteries in your dogs microchips.

 

[KDENISE977]

I could picture you calling the vet and telling them you need new batteries in your dogs microchips.

your level of confidence is heartwarming...really

 

[Katt]

I think the plan is extra coverage for helping find a lost dog or some sort of insurance. You shouldn't need to pay that extra fee. I have all my pets chipped and it's fine that I don't pay the fee. they are still registered to me as their owner.

 

[kwillia]

I purchased the GPS chip tracker plan AND the drone dog walker... bundling saved me a fortune...

 

[Independence]

I pay $15 a year. Really never looked into what i was getting for the $15. I have to check when the renewal comes back up.

 

[lucky_bee]

I pay $15 a year. Really never looked into what i was getting for the $15. I have to check when the renewal comes back up.

Which one do you use?

Maggie was in Tri-County at one point and had a chip put in her. She came with a tag on her collar from HomeAgain, so last year when I got her, I activated it (her owner that gave her to me never activated it when he got her from the shelter), updated her info to mine, and a couple weeks ago I got an email saying her membership has expired. For $17.99 I can renew it again. I haven't gotten around to doing that yet, but is it pointless if none of my information has changed? I don't exactly mind paying that amount but I'm still curious what it goes to if my info is technically already synched with her chip.

 

[rabbithead]

I bought a dog at Tri- County with a Home Again chip and registered it in my name for $17.99. Part of the plan is a free service to ASPCA poison control. It more than paid for itself when my dog got into a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement and ate the whole bottle (long story). If you don't renew the plan your dog is still in their system if it gets lost.

 

[lucky_bee]

I bought a dog at Tri- County with a Home Again chip and registered it in my name for $17.99. Part of the plan is a free service to ASPCA poison control. It more than paid for itself when my dog got into a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement and ate the whole bottle (long story). If you don't renew the plan your dog is still in their system if it gets lost.

Hey, thanks for clarifying!

 

[KDENISE977]

Thanks to a who responded, my vet was actually here today and said she too was concerned about the question of fees after the fact that were never mentioned. She's no longer affiliated with the well pet clinic but said this was not the first she had heard about it.

 

[DeeCee]

This isn't the Well Pet Clinic, I think it's a HomeAgain thing.

I microchip all of ours with AVID. Each and every chip I buy is registered to who ever purchases them so if they never get registered by the puppy owner with AVID, they can still be tracked back to the puppy buyer through me. AVID has a one time fee for an individual or multiple animal household and that's it.

The chips marketed by AKC (HomeAgain) are sold outright with no tracking of the sale - so if you don't use their service chipping them does you no good at all.

The AVID reader is also universal and can read all chip numbers, HomeAgain reader only reads HomeAgain chips. I hate proprietary stuff, it's all about making money for them.

We've had only one case where we've needed it, a puppy we sold was inadvertently let out of the yard by the gardner. Some passers by picked him up and took him to a local vet who scanned him and called AVID. AVID called me and I called the owner - who had no idea the pup had even gotten out yet - her husband did but he hadn't told her yet, hoping to find him before she got home and I threw him under the bus . This all happened within 90 minutes time! The system WORKS.

 

[Roman]

A cat found his way to our house one day, so I scooped him up, and took him to the Vet for a Scan. He did have a Chip, but for the life of me, I can't remember which company the chip was under. I called the company, who said that the Chip wasn't registered, and that they couldn't help me. After several different calls to the Company, I finally got a hold of someone that actually wanted to do their job. She did say that it was not registered, however she told me which Hospital planted the Chip. I called the Hospital, and gave them the Chip number, and the Owner was found. However she did not want the cat back. So we kept him. I have put Mirco Chips in all my dogs & cats. Some places tell you that they will register the chip, but rarely do they tell you that you have to do it. I paid up to almost $40 for the Chips, only to find that it was never registered. I thought the price was all inclusive. Rarely do the Vets tell you otherwise.

 

[DeeCee]

Correct, the price to implant it does NOT include the registration to the company that registers them. Two SEPARATE things entirely, unless the implanter specifically states REGISTRATION is included - in which case the cost is generally higher.

In a typical situation the person who scans the chip contacts AVID > AVID staff take the rescuer's info and provides it to the registered owner (or the implanter) to allow that person to contact the rescuer directly (or not - if they so choose).

As a rule, HomeAgain has no idea who they sell chips too - if it was an AVID chip, maybe they contacted the implanter who contacted the owner and the owner chose not to contact you - but you were persistant so AVID finally gave you the contact information for the implanter?

If it was a HomeAgain chip the implanter must have been on a list of clients who purchased them. Either way, you got lucky that the Vet had a database with microchip info in it - many don't. I'm not a vet, I'm a breeder, but I keep meticulous records on my pups and their families so i can find the owner quickly if a chip is never transferred. And i make it really clear that the new owners are responsible for that and the cost to register it with AVID in their own name.

 

[acommondisaster]

So wait...I got my dog from the Humane Society, and it had a chip. I've never paid for any registration; do I need to get him re-chipped or something?

 

[DoWhat]

or something?

Yes.

 

[ArkRescue]

After you pay for the initial fee to register the chip (if there is one), the yearly fee is merely to provide you with additional services that are unrelated to the chip registration, meaning you don't have to pay YEARLY for the chip to point to you as the owner to be contacted. I had been paying HomeAgain over and over for services I never used (they email your missing pet's info. to other HomeAgain email addresses they have). I didn't want that extra service so I stopped paying the annual fees. I am not sure what all they offer now for the yearly fee but if you have say ... 7 dogs and several cats (ahem ICit?), that's a LOT of $$ to spend every year for extra services.