Can A Vet Always Find A Microchip?

[naturelady]

Cat chipped 7 years ago. Spitting image of my cat found incl. ear tears - photo was posted online with name of vet taken to - same place my cat was chipped. Rang them - they say 100% does not have a chip. Could the chip be missed by scanner?

[Ratty2E]

Years ago I had a dog whose chip stopped working. The vet said they can migrate in the body so checked all over the body with the scanner but it didn't show up. So we just had to assume it had stopped working and had to have another one Put in.

[Baldric]

Microchips can sometimes move under the skin; this is harmless but does mean that the microchip can be more difficult to find when scanning. This is not a problem as the whole body is usually scanned if a chip is not found immediately.
In the first few weeks microchips can very occasionally move out through the hole in the skin where they were inserted but; this is extremely uncommon. Once the skin has healed over there is no danger of this happening. Two weeks after the microchip is inserted, return to your vets so that they can check that the microchip is still in place. If it is, the skin will have healed so it will remain safely in place for good.

[woofgang]

All the vet can actually say 100% is that they didn't find a chip.
Quite a big batch issued between 2010 and 2012 were potentially faulty.
http://www.vetsgetscanning.co.uk/virbac-there-may-be-a-batch-of-backhome-mirochips-with-a-functionality-issue/

[chanel5]

You should go and see if the cat seems to recognise you. Chips stop working - I know because my dog was chipped and two years later, when he wandered off and turned up at the dog pound, no sign of the chip. Because of this, I had my two cats' chips checked. One was detected, the other was not. Chipping seems to me to be a hit-and-miss process.

[jourdain2]

Chips can fail. They also move around sometimes. Usually scanner can find an operating chip - but they very definitely can fail (happened to someone I know) and then another has to be inserted and the process started from scratch :(

[Peter Pedant]

yeah I suppose they should say no chip detected instead of 100% no chip

[lankeela]

I would visit the vet and take photos of your cat - although the vast majority of chips do not move or fail, there have been some as mentioned above that failed and the company offered free replacements. I suggest getting all chips checked regularly (and updating your contact details too if you have moved or changed phone numbers).