The Pros and Cons of Microchipping Your Cats and Dogs

Any time you adopt a new cat or dog, there's a pretty good chance the vet will ask if you want to get them microchipped at their first checkup. Whenever someone finds a lost animal, the question is always the same: Was there anything on the chip?

Microchips are common and widely accepted, but there are still a lot of people who question whether or not they're worthwhile, or if they should chip their animals. Like, if you have an indoor cat and they never seem interested in trying to go outside, should you bother getting them chipped? Are there drawbacks to a chip regardless?

I shouldn't surprise you to learn that I'm firmly pro-chip, but I admit that there can be a few downsides to the procedure and the chips themselves. So, let's talk about the pros and cons, so you can make the right decision.

What Are Microchips and How Do They Work?

First, let's talk about what microchips even are.

A microchip is a tiny computer chip. It includes an extremely small bit of storage that holds information, a capacitor that gets a bit of charge from the chip scanner a vet has, and an antenna to allow the scanner to read the data on the chip. All of this is enclosed in a tiny glass tube and is altogether just slightly larger than a long-grain piece of rice.

Some people hear "microchip" and get worried, largely because there's a lot of misinformation about chips and what they can do.

• A pet microchip does NOT track a pet. It's much too small to have any active tracking capability, let alone anything GPS-capable.

• A pet microchip does not contain personal information. Chips contain one static identification number, which is associated with information in a chip database from the manufacturer.

• A pet microchip cannot listen in on you, spy on you, or compromise your privacy in any way.

• A pet microchip does not give off harmful radiation or cause any health issues.

Pet microchips are inert until a scanner is run over them, and when that scanner is nearby, they have just enough capacity to transmit their one piece of data (the ID number) to the scanner. This broadcast doesn't go far, which is why a chip scanner needs to be right up next to your cat or dog to read it.

So, what are the pros and cons of microchipping your cats and dogs?

The Pros of Microchipping Your Cats and Dogs

Let's start with the benefits.

Microchips are Permanent Forms of Identification that Can't Be Lost

A microchip stays in your pet, just under the skin, for their life. It's extremely rare that a microchip gets lost or breaks.

If you've ever had a dog that seems to lose their collar any time they're left to run around unsupervised, or a cat that hates wearing anything at all, you know how easy it is for something like a collar or tag to get lost. A chip is something they can't lose, period.

Chips don't replace tags, licenses, or vet papers, but they do serve as access to critical information, and are always available as a backup.

Microchips Help Reunite Lost Pets When They're Found

The main purpose of a microchip is to serve as guaranteed identification in the event that your fur baby gets lost and someone else finds them. Finding a stray animal, the first step most people take is to bring it to the nearest vet to have the chip scanned. Then, information from the chip can point to you, and your beloved fur baby is just a phone call away.

This isn't just theory; studies have proven that chips help pets reunite with their parents at much higher rates. Even if you don't expect your cat or dog to escape, being prepared for the worst is always best.

Microchips are Biologically Inert and Safe

Implanting a microchip is technically an invasive procedure, but it's about on par with a vaccination or other shot, and is less invasive than drawing blood for routine bloodwork.

The chip doesn't cause any irritation to your fur baby, and in fact, they generally won't even notice it at all. They don't cause health problems or trigger issues down the line.

Microchips May Be Necessary for International Travel

Many countries around the world require your pets to be chipped if they're going to enter the country.

Chips are an international sign of pet identification and help ensure that if your pet escapes, they'll be returned to you.

Microchips Represent Your Love and Care

This one is an edge case, but the fact is, a chip represents how much you love your fur baby. If the worst happens and your pet escapes, and they're injured, a vet will try to give them care. But, if the vet is very busy and has to make the devastating choice between two injured animals, they're more likely to prioritize one that has a chip over one that doesn't.

After all, the chip means you're out there, worried sick over the animal, while an unchipped animal could be a feral or wild pet. Obviously, no vet ever wants to be in a position to have to make that choice, but it could still happen.

The Cons of Microchipping Your Cats and Dogs

Despite all of the very real and very important benefits to chipping your cat or dog, there are some drawbacks to consider. I don't personally think they're good enough reasons to not chip your fur babies, but maybe you'll feel differently. If you do, tell me why in the comments, and see if you can convince me.

Microchips Have a Very Tiny Risk of Side Effects

Microchipping is perfectly safe in 99.999% of cases. Usually, at most, they can cause a little itching and local irritation while the area heals. But any procedure that breaks the skin carries with it the risk of infection. It's very, very unlikely, but it can happen.

Microchips can also migrate. They're generally implanted between the shoulder blades, but sometimes they can shift down the shoulders, up the neck, or down the back over time. Some people have told stories of their pet's chip moving as far down as near the tail, or halfway to their belly.

Fortunately, this is not harmful to your cat or dog, and vets know to be thorough when scanning for a chip in case it moves.

There are very rare reports of a chip migrating somewhere that it could cause issues, like close to the spine, but we're talking about "this is rare enough a paper was written about it" levels of unlikely. It can only even really happen if the chip is implanted improperly, and even then, only in very small puppies or kittens.

Microchip Information Requires Maintenance

The information on a microchip is just an ID number, and that ID number references a profile in the Microchip Registry. Most of these registries share data with each other, so a vet can use one lookup tool to search them all.

The downside here is that the information in the profile is not dynamic. When you register a microchip, you include your contact information to associate it with the chip number. If you move, you need to update your address information. If you change your phone number, you need to update that number. A lot of people forget, which leads to a lot of pets being lost with invalid contact information.

Keeping chip information is so important that organizations have created Check the Chip Day, which is August 15 every year, as a reminder to check and update your pets' chip information.

Microchips Rely on Chip Companies

Related to the above, all of those microchip databases? They're run by the companies that sell the microchips. Unfortunately, if one of those companies goes out of business, its entire database can be lost. That's not just theory, either: it actually happened just last year.

It's not hard to update chip information to a new company's registry if this happens, but it's still a worry and a risk that you shouldn't have to deal with.

Microchips Are Cheap, But Not Free

While I believe that microchips should be free for loving pet parents, the fact is, they cost money to make, manage, and maintain the registries. That cost is passed onto us as consumers. It's cheap (generally well under $100, with an average cost closer to $48), and sometimes shelters and vets will hold events where they subsidize the cost for low-income pet parents so they only cost $10-$20. But, even that isn't free.

Vets often charge for their office visits as well, but fortunately, chipping can be added to a routine checkup or vaccination appointment, so you don't have to make a dedicated appointment just for the chip.

Microchips Still Rely on the Kindness of Strangers

Like I mentioned above, chips aren't tracking devices. They don't serve as GPS tools, and you can't just use an app to look up where your cat or dog is because they have a chip. That means a lost animal still has to be found and brought to a vet to be scanned, which won't always be the case.

GPS and active tracking systems are still too large and complex to be implants, though, so we don't really have the option for more active tracking without a collar.

Despite all these drawbacks, though, I still firmly believe that chipping is the right thing to do. It's a one-time fee for lifetime peace of mind. What more could you ask for?

Other Questions About Cat and Dog Microchipping

There are a couple of details you might want to know, so I've included them here.

Forward-scanning? 125 kHz? ISO? What does any of this mean?

The chip in a microchip is a radio frequency, which can be one of a few broadcast frequencies. Common frequencies, measured in kilohertz (kHz), are 125, 128, and 134.2 kHz. USA-based chips tend to use the first two, while international chips use the third one.

A chip scanner can be a forward-reading scanner, or a backward-reading (or universal) scanner. Forward-reading scanners can read one frequency, but if it's not the right one, it won't pick up the chip. Backward-reading scanners will scan all the frequencies and can pick up any chip.

Fortunately, most vets use universal scanners these days, so this is a lot less of an issue than it was a decade ago.

ISO is the International Standards Organization, and they set standards and rules for all sorts of things around the world. ISO-certified chips are required to use certain frequencies, so everyone is on the same page. It's why if you travel internationally with your pet, you may be required to have an ISO-standard chip.

I heard chips can cause cancer! Is that true?

Not at all. There were a couple of animal studies in mice and rats that developed cancer, but they were part of cancer studies, and the chips didn't have anything to do with it.

Sometimes a tumor can form around or near the chip, but that's more like a lump of scar tissue, and isn't cancer. There has been no known causal link between chips and cancer, and given how many millions of chips are implanted every year, we would definitely have noticed by now if they did.

I'm visiting or moving to a country that requires an ISO chip, but my pet's chip isn't ISO. Help!

There's a simple solution here: just get an ISO chip.

Two chips is fine. The chips won't interfere with each other, and they don't hurt at all. You don't even need to remove the original chip. Plus, it's double the protection on the off chance that a vet doesn't have a universal scanner and misses one of them.

I wouldn't get two chips just to do it, but if you have a good reason, it doesn't hurt.

I keep good track of my cat or dog, should I still get them chipped?

Yes. All it takes is a moment of weakness, an accident, a door being left open a hair too long, and your fur baby can take off to explore the great unknown without you. So many pets are lost every year, and chips make them much, much easier to find their way back home.