How many kinds of microchips....

[frecklesmom]

Does anyone know how many kinds or companies making microchips there are? We have Avid but I saw Home Again chip information at another Vet in town-mind you this town's pop. is 2400. If the Vet Clinics don't have all the scanners they will miss the ID of a chip. If you have an International one can it be scanned anywhere by Avid?

 

[frecklesmom]

Answered my own question but think this is of interest anyway. Why didn't this show up when I was looking? Think my computer plays games.

The chip, antenna, and capacitor are encased in a tiny glass tube. The tube is composed of soda lime glass, which is known for compatibility with living tissue. The glass is hermetically sealed to keep moisture out.
Two companies, Schering-Plough Animal Health and AVID, share the bulk of the business of pet identification by microchip.
In 1996, Schering-Plough Animal Health, marketer of the HomeAgain™ microchip identification system, announced distribution of a universal scanner by Destron-Fearing* that can read all microchips and removed a major obstacle to widespread acceptance of pet identification with the new technology. Until then, no one scanner could read the chips of all the US manufacturers, a situation that impeded efforts to involve shelters in a national effort to return stray dogs to their owners through a chip program. The new scanners were given to thousands of shelters throughout the country so that quick and easy identification of those dogs with microchips could be achieved.
There are some drawbacks. AVID® encoded its chips so that the number cannot be read, even by the HomeAgain™ universal scanner. Unless the shelter has an AVID® scanner, the best it can do is identify that a chip from AVID® is present. Thus it is still necessary to have access to at least two scanners in order to assure that the chip number can be retrieved.

 

[Karlin]

And the US alone in the world uses non-standard microchips that cannot be read anywhere else in the world -- a technology that has been superceded -- the rest of the world uses ISO chips (international standards organisation) precisely so that they can be read anywhere. This is a hugely political area. Why Avid is allowed to operate as it does in the US is beyond me. Incidentally they do not encrypt their chips nor do you need an Avid scanner to read the chips they sell everywhere else in the world. :sl*p:

Here's a story I wrote on this subject about 18 months ago:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/feb/16/travelnews

 

[pinkpuppy]

I didn't realize this. There is no point in micro-chipping in the advent of relocation then? Why subject a companion with a foreign object that may need to be done twice?

 

[Karlin]

Having a chip is 100 times better than having no chip. If I find your dog in Ireland with no chip, I will rehome. If I find your dog and my vet scans and notes they cannot read the chip but the chip is there, it will indicate a US chip and I will contact one of the places I know that has a US scanner.

The problem isn;t whether to chip: the problem is that the US uses dated technology and a system that no on else uses any more because it is outdated. Campaign to force Avid to standardise, and also to have the US mandate ISO chips. The situation IMHO is ridiculous especially as more people choose to bring pets when travelling internationally.

See: http://www.wsava.org/MicrochipComm4.htm
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/microchp.html

and this depressing news for animal owners in the US:

http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct07/071015c.asp

:sl*p:

From which:

According to the USDA, of the some 60 million dogs and 70 million cats privately owned in the United States, 3 percent to 5 percent are electronically identified. Of these, 98 percent are implanted with microchips emitting a 125 kHz frequency. Pets in many other countries are identified with a 134.2 kHz microchip, which has been endorsed by the International Standards Organization.

The AVMA, American Animal Hospital Association, and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals encourage the U.S. animal microchip industry to adopt the ISO standard. But such efforts have met with little success. American microchip companies have vigorously defended their technology patents from marketing so-called "universal scanners" able to read both the 125 kHz and 134.2 kHz microchips.

Wow -- hardly ANY animals are chipped in the US! In the UK they estimate nearly 40% are chipped!!!
The comments by Avid in the article make me ILL -- they 'blame' other companies for introducing a competing product tha can;t be read by THEIR scanners because they maintain the scanner monopoly!! Amazing example of doublespeak and doublethink. Disgusting.

 

[WoodHaven]

And the US alone in the world uses non-standard microchips that cannot be read anywhere else in the world -- a technology that has been superceded -- the rest of the world uses ISO chips (international standards organisation) precisely so that they can be read anywhere. This is a hugely political area. Why Avid is allowed to operate as it does in the US is beyond me. Incidentally they do not encrypt their chips nor do you need an Avid scanner to read the chips they sell everywhere else in the world. :sl*p:

Here's a story I wrote on this subject about 18 months ago:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2006/feb/16/travelnews

Karlin, I don't understand what you mean when you state that you don't know why Avid is 'allowed' to operate as it does in the US?

 

[Karlin]

They control the microchip market and encrypt their chips so that they can only be read by their own brand scanner. Anyone who wants to create a scanner that can read all chips -- a so called universal scanner -- has to pay Avid to license their technology. That is just extraordinary for a product that is ONLY used to *return animals to their owners*. It means the likelihood of the dog being returned if taken abroad and lost, is virtually nil. It means there's no incentive for competition because if vets use any other chip, a shelter or pound or vet has to buy additional scanners to read the non Avid chips. This introduces significant extra costs to pounds, shelters and rescue who must buy additional scanners at about $300 a pop. Many do not keep both scanners, increasing the chance that a pet will NOT get returned.

Or to put it another way: Microsoft was brought before the US on antitrust charges for 'tying' a product in this way. Avid removes all choice and competition from the US market, uses outdated technology, AND lowers the effectiveness of its product in the entire rest of the world for US customers using its chips.

What is very interesting is that Avid does NONE of this outside the US. Their chips are not encrypted, they can be read by all scanners, and they are ISO standard.

Go figure.

They have somehow managed to convince Americans that they 'won' the competition by having a superior product and everyone else only is complaining because they have such a large portion of the market. The reality is that doing things the way they do allows them to dictate to American pet owners, vets and the rescue system what chips will be used and gives them a huge lucrative market for their scanners, while not benefiting animals overall at all.

If your Avid chipped dog arrives at a shelter without an Avid scanner, it probably won't find its way back to its owner. The chances are very slim that it will be returned to its owner outside the US because the chip won't even be read as a number and 99% of the rest of the world will simply think it is a defective chip -- and rehome or euthenise the pet.

How such a system ever came to be the dominant system is beyond me. The non-ISO chips have been substandard for well over a decade too. The reason Avid uses them as far as I can understand is that they could not block other readers from reading their chips if they used standardised chips. Avid only gets away with this because they can rely on a large homogenous market that is generally unaware of how it is dictated to, to the detriment of US pets and the entire animal welfare system that does try to reunite animals and owners.

Isn't the whole point of a chip to be able to have it read so the animal stands a chance of being returned? The fact that this isn't how things work is what prompted me to write the Guardian piece in the first place as I couldn't believe the problem US chips cause outside the US (s well as inside) when trying to reunite animals and owners.

 

[pinkpuppy]

The... problem is that the US uses dated technology and a system that no on else uses any more because it is outdated.
..

That is no surprise to OH and I that the US is behind times. Something I don't want to speak out about.

Anywhoo... We are moving back to the Netherlands. In preparation we have to consider the well being of our little guy quarantine, vaccinations, ie.

 

[WoodHaven]

They control the microchip market and encrypt their chips so that they can only be read by their own brand scanner. Anyone who wants to create a scanner that can read all chips -- a so called universal scanner -- has to pay Avid to license their technology. That is just extraordinary for a product that is ONLY used to *return animals to their owners*. It means the likelihood of the dog being returned if taken abroad and lost, is virtually nil. It means there's no incentive for competition because if vets use any other chip, a shelter or pound or vet has to buy additional scanners to read the non Avid chips. This introduces significant extra costs to pounds, shelters and rescue who must buy additional scanners at about $300 a pop. Many do not keep both scanners, increasing the chance that a pet will NOT get returned.

Or to put it another way: Microsoft was brought before the US on antitrust charges for 'tying' a product in this way. Avid removes all choice and competition from the US market, uses outdated technology, AND lowers the effectiveness of its product in the entire rest of the world for US customers using its chips.

What is very interesting is that Avid does NONE of this outside the US. Their chips are not encrypted, they can be read by all scanners, and they are ISO standard.

Go figure.

They have somehow managed to convince Americans that they 'won' the competition by having a superior product and everyone else only is complaining because they have such a large portion of the market. The reality is that doing things the way they do allows them to dictate to American pet owners, vets and the rescue system what chips will be used and gives them a huge lucrative market for their scanners, while not benefiting animals overall at all.

If your Avid chipped dog arrives at a shelter without an Avid scanner, it probably won't find its way back to its owner. The chances are very slim that it will be returned to its owner outside the US because the chip won't even be read as a number and 99% of the rest of the world will simply think it is a defective chip -- and rehome or euthenise the pet.

How such a system ever came to be the dominant system is beyond me. The non-ISO chips have been substandard for well over a decade too. The reason Avid uses them as far as I can understand is that they could not block other readers from reading their chips if they used standardised chips. Avid only gets away with this because they can rely on a large homogenous market that is generally unaware of how it is dictated to, to the detriment of US pets and the entire animal welfare system that does try to reunite animals and owners.

Isn't the whole point of a chip to be able to have it read so the animal stands a chance of being returned? The fact that this isn't how things work is what prompted me to write the Guardian piece in the first place as I couldn't believe the problem US chips cause outside the US (s well as inside) when trying to reunite animals and owners.

All police stations, shelters and vet clinics HAVE Home again and Avid scanners (at least in our area). I can see where this could be an issue outside of the US-- but for over 90%+ of chipped animals here- it will not affect them at all.

This reminds me of when I was a child-- I was told I "HAD" to learn the metric system because it was the world standard of measure. Thirty years later we are still clinging to an antiquated system of measure.

 

[frecklesmom]

The HomeAgain WorldScan™ scanner reads all microchips utilizing the 125 kHz and 128 kHz radio frequencies (HomeAgain, AVID and Trovan) including those that previously could not be read by all U.S. scanners. The HomeAgain WorldScan™ scanner also detects the presence of 134.2 kHz microchips, or ISO chip, commonly used outside of the United States. While the scanner will not display the number of all ISO chips, it will indicate the presence of the chip so that steps toward a recovery can be put in place.
ABOVE FROM HOME AGAIN SITE

So, I guess you better :xfngr: that if your little one is lost that the vet or rescue facility has the Home Again scanner if your chip isn't 125 kHz. The chip by the AKC is 134.2 kHz (according to Avid website).

How maddening this is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!