What's New? AVID EQUINE MICROCHIPS
Just like you, all of us at Adobe Animal Hospital are dedicated to the health and welfare of your animals. Because of the recent fires in our county and the need for hundreds of horses needing to be evacuated and housed, it has made many of us think about disaster plans and keeping our animals safe.
The AVID Equine MicroChip along with USA Horsetrac Protection can play an important role in our plan. The AVID Company is reputable, well established and has one of the best MicroChips offered to all companion animals for recovery purposes. The 125 kHz operating frequency is essential in detecting and reading for rapid recovery and 98% of all companion animals in the United States carry the 125 kHz frequency chip. Beware of the others! The 134.2 kHz or the 128 kHz microchips are not recommended and are often undetected which can lead to an animal being unidentified and in extreme cases, euthanized.
Call us today.......don't wait for the next disaster to happen! 831 475-6365.
Get all the info at www.avidequineID.com
As published in June 2007 Veterinary Practice News
New Microchips Won't Help the Recovery Issue
Editor:
Unfortunately some comments made in the recent article on microchips could be misinterpreted (New Chip Reignites Debate, May 2007). Most veterinarians now understand that microchips are all about radio frequency or kHz.
The recent spin by new players in the market is causing confusion and can ultimately endanger pets if not explained. Hopefully, this will help clarify the situation.
The majority of the microchip scanners used by veterinary hospitals, animal control, shelters and disaster teams in America will not read the newly introduced AKC-CAR microchip or the Bayer ResQ microchip.
Since 1988 the U.S. has used microchips and scanners that operate at 125 kHz, establishing the widely used and trusted de facto standard in America. The Bayer ResQ chip operates at 134.2 kHz. The AKC chip operates at yet another frequency of 128 kHz.
Neither chip can be read by the vast majority of the scanners used in the U.S. The article refers to a donation of 30,000 scanners that will read these off-frequency microchips. If this is true, the fact still remains that over 75 percent of U.S. scanners would not read these new chips.
As veterinarians, when we microchip a client's pet, we are expressing or implying that that pet's microchip can be read if it ends up being scanned by a recovery entity.
The only way to be certain that our representation to clients is true and correct is if we use only 125 kHz microchips. Why? The one known constant in the microchip debate is this: All scanners in use in the field today do read the 125 frequency. No debate.
In my opinion, it is irresponsible and puts veterinarians, clients and pets at risk for any company to introduce an unreadable microchip into a functioning national system without first addressing, or at minimum disclosing, the readability problem.
To ensure the reliability of your microchip program:
1. Use only125 kHz chips to insure national readability.
2. Always test any scanner for read effectiveness of the 125 kHz chip before acquiring one for use in your practice. (Scanners designed to read multiple frequencies lose efficiency.)
For more detailed information, please visit the American Microchip Advisory Council for
Animals at www.AmacaUSA.org.
-John R. Wade, DVM
Member AVMA
AMACA Advisory Board Member
Vice President of MicroChip ID Systems, Inc.
