---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marc Sayer <marcsayer@hughes. net>
Date: Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Subject: CSI OT warning on microchips
To:
Beware of Petlink ResQ microchips. They are made by Bayer and are
starting to show up all over the country. People are reporting problems
with their record keeping, dogs being registered to someone other than
the owner who filled out the registration. But that it not the biggest
problem.
They are selling ISO chips here in the US that almost none of the
shelters/rescues/ vets scanners can read, but they aren't telling people
about this issue. That's the same stunt that 24petwatch/Banfield tried a
few years ago, that got them in so much hot water.
ISO chips are the standard in Europe and now Canada, but NOT here in the US. ISO standard not only uses the 15 number code, it uses a completely different radio frequency than used here in the US.
So called universal scanners that can scan both the US standard and the ISO standard just aren't available, at least not ones that work. After the big debacle with 24petwatch/Banfield , the company was forced to send out thousands of so
called universal scanners free of charge to shelters/vets/ rescues. We got one. It read the ISO chips just fine, but was only about 10% reliable on reading American standard chips.
Before we found this out, I had double chipped 2 dogs because their universal scanner failed to read an Avid chip and a Home Again chip. I tested the scanner, scanning a chip set on my desk. It read it once in 10 tries. I still have that
scanner. I use it to scan dogs from Canada only.
Pretty much all current American scanners can read all American standard chips, no matter what brand. The issue of reading differing brands hasn't been a problem in over 5 years. But they can't read ISO chips. All American standard
chips, regardless of brand operate on the same radio frequency. ISO chips are on a different frequency and so they can't be read by normal scanners here in the US. Selling ISO chips in US ought to be illegal. And that is just what ResQ/Bayer is doing. Eventually the US will transition over to the ISO chips, but that has been planned to be a slow process, allowing the industry to develop reliable, low cost scanners, get them disseminated to all the groups/agencies that need them, and then slowly transition over as pets with the American standard chips start to die out. The reason for this is so that the infrastructure to
support the new ISO standard is firmly in place before the ISO chips are
made available, and so that all the thousands of pets currently chipped
with American standard chips will continue to be safe. Rushing this
process is irresponsible and dangerous. If you think your dog is safer
because he has a chip, if that chip is an ISO chip sold by ResQ/Bayer or
24petwatch/Banfield , you may find out the hard way that you were sold a
useless product.
BTW, after the big debacle with 24petwatch/Banfield , they switched to American standard chips and offered to rechip dogs they'd chipped with the ISO chips at no charge.
They didn't make a big deal about this, you had to know to ask, in fact you almost had to insist on it, but if you insisted, they would do it. Now that's what I
call customer service!
As of now, 24petwatch and Banfield sell American standard chips here in the US, so ResQ/Bayer is the only company I know of trying to scam their customers by selling them ISO chips without explaining what that entails.
I recently got a dog from WA state that was chipped just before it was
sent to me. The vet charged the woman $75 just to chip the dog. Yep you
heard me, $75. Not only that but he shaved a silver dollar sized spot on the dog's shoulders first (I guess he felt he needed to make the procedure more involved so as to justify his ridiculous fee).
I scanned the dog, no chip. I looked at the paperwork. It was a ResQ/Bayer chip. I looked at the paperwork and their website carefully and saw that they VERY carefully danced around the issue of what standard the chip was.
They tried to make it sound as if their chips were superior to all others, and to bolster this they talked about how much more likely your dog was to be returned if chipped with their chip.
What they neglected to make clear was they weren't comparing their chip to others, they were comparing their chip to no chip. This chip has no business being offered for sale here in the US at this time. None whatsoever.
Permission to crosspost
--
Marc Sayer
Journalist, Photographer, Dog Trainer (APDT member #062956)
Board member - Western States Great Dane Rescue Association
Director of Operations & Training - Deaf Dane Rescue Inc.
Oakridge, OR USA
My Homepage - http://gracieland. org
Deaf Dane Rescue - http://deafdane. org
Western States Great Dane Rescue Association - http://wsgdra. org
RescueWatchdogs - http://rescuewatchd ogs.org
Association of Pet Dog Trainers - http://APDT. com
