You must have an older email forward there because to my knowledge sometime in '06 or '07 Bayer came out with a universal reader as did many of the other main microchip companies. Avid being the only one holding out on making a universal scanner.

Where I work we use the Home Again microchips with the newer ISO frequency and have their universal scanner. We've not had any problems reading chips from other companies from rescue dogs, etc. where we are told they have a microchip from another company.



http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs...ma.233.11.1729 (Dec. '08 scanner study)



http://www.dolittler.com/2009/01/12 (more detail on study linked to above)

Scanners:

• Bayer: For detecting and reading 125 kHz encrypted and unencrypted), 128 kHz and 134.2 kHz microchips.

• HomeAgain: Same as Bayer’s detecting and reading mix.

• AKC-CAR: For detecting all three frequencies but can only actually read the 125 kHz and 128 kHz varieties.

• Avid: This 125 kHz scanner can detect and reading all encrypted and unencrypted chips at this frequency. It is not a universal scanner.

Results (in a nutshell):

• HomeAgain’s scanner won for overall sensitivity at 93.6 to 98.4% across all six microchip types.
• The Bayer scanner did next best at over 97% for four chips but only about 90% for the more popular 125 kHz chips.
• AKC-CAR’s did over 95% for the 128 and 134.2 kHz chips but lost big at 66-75% for the 125 kHz chips.
• Avid scored as well as HomeAgain on the one frequency it could read, at >97%.