Animal Welfare Professionals

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Hello, 

I am new to this forum. I created this post today because I wanted to ask if anyone has ever been told by their veterinarian that they could just keep a pet they found even knowing the pet is chipped and without ever contacting the family of that pet. Is this true? 

This happened a few years ago now but still. Very unsettling in my opinion. What do you think?

#ReturntoHome(LostPetReunification)

Absolutely not. Most counties or individual shelters or rescues have a 3-5 day stray hold. In this period, we will research the chip and get the owner information on file and make every effort to contact them. If the hold period has passed and you have not heard back from the owner after repeated attempts or they have stated they do not want the animal back, then you can place the animal for adoption. 

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Amanda Gray
Truly All Cats Trapping and Rescue
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Our county animal services, veterinarians, other shelters, and TNR groups contact us for lost pets. When owners do not register the chips the chip is in the rescue name. 

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Beverly Paladinetti
Philantrophy Director
Georgia Humane Society
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-17-2023 07:40 AM
From: Amanda Gray
Subject: Chipping pets

Absolutely not. Most counties or individual shelters or rescues have a 3-5 day stray hold. In this period, we will research the chip and get the owner information on file and make every effort to contact them. If the hold period has passed and you have not heard back from the owner after repeated attempts or they have stated they do not want the animal back, then you can place the animal for adoption. 

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Amanda Gray
Truly All Cats Trapping and Rescue
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Hi

We have heard that certain vets consider whoever brings the pet in to be considered their client so they owe their loyalty to them and will not contact an owner from a chip.  If this really happens, that is inexcusable.   

Thankfully, my organization has had a vet's office contact us when a pet was scanned with an owner's chip other than who brought the pet in. But this is something that needs more investigation. It is like the hipaa law for pets or something crazy. 

When I first heard this is really concerned me that it could actually be happening.  If there are any vets on this discussion,  I'd love to hear from you on this matter. 

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Patty Giarrusso
Lost Pet Services, Inc.
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I had a cat once who I took in as a stray. Scanned for microchip at vet but nothing ever came up so we assumed he was not chipped. We found one person we thought he may have belonged to but they claimed not to know him and hung up. Years later I brought him to a new vet (we moved states) and I mentioned that he was a stray with no chip. They scanned again and lo and behold, he was chipped! They didn't take him or anything but gave me the information to call the chip company (or maybe we did it together in the office, I can't remember) left a message but never heard back.

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Spencer Fournier
Intern
ARLN
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Original Message:
Sent: 3/20/2023 9:57:00 AM
From: Spencer Fournier
Subject: RE: Chipping pets

I had a cat once who I took in as a stray. Scanned for microchip at vet but nothing ever came up so we assumed he was not chipped. We found one person we thought he may have belonged to but they claimed not to know him and hung up. Years later I brought him to a new vet (we moved states) and I mentioned that he was a stray with no chip. They scanned again and lo and behold, he was chipped! They didn't take him or anything but gave me the information to call the chip company (or maybe we did it together in the office, I can't remember) left a message but never heard back.

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Spencer Fournier
Intern
ARLN
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I have found through the years that many vets/techs/ACOs/etc. seem to rush the scan and not account for the chip possibly moving. For my personal dogs, the techs do a chip scan as part of the yearly exam. I had my Bloodhound in - who was a rescue and was chipped when she was 8 weeks old - in for her 1 year exam and the tech could not find the chip when she scanned. She said she thought the record said the dog was chipped - I told her the dog was chipped by the shelter I got her from and I watched them scan/verify it before I left the shelter with her. The tech scanned again and finally found the chip had migrated almost to the elbow of one of her front legs.  So ... make sure anyone doing the scanning do a thorough scan before assuming the animal is not chipped.

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Gigi Zoltek
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2023 06:57 AM
From: Spencer Fournier
Subject: Chipping pets

I had a cat once who I took in as a stray. Scanned for microchip at vet but nothing ever came up so we assumed he was not chipped. We found one person we thought he may have belonged to but they claimed not to know him and hung up. Years later I brought him to a new vet (we moved states) and I mentioned that he was a stray with no chip. They scanned again and lo and behold, he was chipped! They didn't take him or anything but gave me the information to call the chip company (or maybe we did it together in the office, I can't remember) left a message but never heard back.

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Spencer Fournier
Intern
ARLN
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Microchips are great identification and also post a moral dilema. The rules around microchips vary by municipality. In our municipality, a rabies vaccine is considered ownership first vs the microchip .  Private practice veterinarians have a contractual obligation with the person that brings the pet in. The pet is in their possession and the next steps are between the vet and the patron.   The vet can scan, and should disclose to the patron that a microchip is found, and then it is up to the patron what to do next.

This process is obviously different for shelters and rescues.

Pets are rehomed so frequently and microchip information doesnt get updated. It proves ro be a challenging debate. There are some interesting case studies for review.

Microchips, ownership, and ethics

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Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter
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The link you shared required approval from the google drive.  

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Patty Giarrusso
Lost Pet Services, Inc.
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2023 05:23 AM
From: Tessha Winsch
Subject: Chipping pets

Microchips are great identification and also post a moral dilema. The rules around microchips vary by municipality. In our municipality, a rabies vaccine is considered ownership first vs the microchip .  Private practice veterinarians have a contractual obligation with the person that brings the pet in. The pet is in their possession and the next steps are between the vet and the patron.   The vet can scan, and should disclose to the patron that a microchip is found, and then it is up to the patron what to do next.

This process is obviously different for shelters and rescues.

Pets are rehomed so frequently and microchip information doesnt get updated. It proves ro be a challenging debate. There are some interesting case studies for review.

Microchips, ownership, and ethics

------------------------------
Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter
------------------------------

Updated link to the article I originally posted:

https://files.brief.vet/migration/sectioned_content/30841/microchips-ownership-and-ethics-30841-sectioned_content.pdf

Brief		remove preview
View this on Brief >

 

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Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2023 08:53 AM
From: Patty Giarrusso
Subject: Chipping pets

The link you shared required approval from the google drive.  

------------------------------
Patty Giarrusso
Lost Pet Services, Inc.
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2023 05:23 AM
From: Tessha Winsch
Subject: Chipping pets

Microchips are great identification and also post a moral dilema. The rules around microchips vary by municipality. In our municipality, a rabies vaccine is considered ownership first vs the microchip .  Private practice veterinarians have a contractual obligation with the person that brings the pet in. The pet is in their possession and the next steps are between the vet and the patron.   The vet can scan, and should disclose to the patron that a microchip is found, and then it is up to the patron what to do next.

This process is obviously different for shelters and rescues.

Pets are rehomed so frequently and microchip information doesnt get updated. It proves ro be a challenging debate. There are some interesting case studies for review.

Microchips, ownership, and ethics

------------------------------
Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter

Thank you!

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Patty Giarrusso
Lost Pet Services, Inc.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2023 09:13 AM
From: Tessha Winsch
Subject: Chipping pets

Updated link to the article I originally posted:

https://files.brief.vet/migration/sectioned_content/30841/microchips-ownership-and-ethics-30841-sectioned_content.pdf

Brief		remove preview
View this on Brief >

 

------------------------------
Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2023 08:53 AM
From: Patty Giarrusso
Subject: Chipping pets

The link you shared required approval from the google drive.  

------------------------------
Patty Giarrusso
Lost Pet Services, Inc.


Original Message:
Sent: 03-21-2023 05:23 AM
From: Tessha Winsch
Subject: Chipping pets

Microchips are great identification and also post a moral dilema. The rules around microchips vary by municipality. In our municipality, a rabies vaccine is considered ownership first vs the microchip .  Private practice veterinarians have a contractual obligation with the person that brings the pet in. The pet is in their possession and the next steps are between the vet and the patron.   The vet can scan, and should disclose to the patron that a microchip is found, and then it is up to the patron what to do next.

This process is obviously different for shelters and rescues.

Pets are rehomed so frequently and microchip information doesnt get updated. It proves ro be a challenging debate. There are some interesting case studies for review.

Microchips, ownership, and ethics

------------------------------
Tessha Winsch
Cheyenne Animal Shelter

Our state law currently does not require us to return a dog that is chipped that isn't wearing a current rabies tag. However ethically we check all chips and do everything we can to return dogs. I have not heard of a case in the state of a chipped dog that was not wearing a current rabies tag that has went to court. Our state animal welfare laws need to change and we are working towards this. 

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Aimee Crow
Volunteer/founder
Healing forgotten canines
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