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Listen to Aspenbloom Pet Care’s interview on microchipping on Views from the Coop

That IS the Question

© by Kim Bloomer

Micro chipping is quite the hot topic in the world of animals today but is it a solution or something much more sinister?

With so many dogs and their ability to do Houdini acts, we need to know how to keep them safe and protected as well as how to recover them if they should make their great escape. Is micro chipping the answer for your dog?

This is actually another one of those controversial subjects in the world of animals. Part of the problem is that there isn’t a standard universal microchip scanner because they are all proprietary. That means that each company who makes them can each only read certain microchips. There is a plan afoot to not only push for a mandatory universal scanner but to mandate by law all domesticated animals -meaning ALL not just dogs -be microchipped. Many are singing the praises of this movement, but I for one am not one of them.

You may be wondering how someone, such as myself, would not be for the mandatory microchip movement, especially as an outspoken proponent on animal welfare. Before you get in an uproar let’s just lay down some of the pros and cons of micro chipping.

Pros

If our dog should be lost during a storm, or for any reason it would be much easier to be able to reunite with our lost pet so much sooner. In fact, in the book I co-authored with Dr. Jill Elliot, Whole Health for Happy Dogs, we said as much. In fact, Dr. Elliot had one wonderful case of how a lost dog was reunited with the owner because of the implanted microchip in her client’s dog. The likelihood of this dog being reunited with its owner otherwise was practically zero to none.

Another pro is that owners would be forced by law to do the responsible thing for their pets’ welfare. This is the extent of the pros I see but is this really a “pro” or is it a “con”?

Cons

Why should the government mandate any more laws that take away my rights as a pet owner and caregiver? If we decide to bring a pet home then it is our responsibility NOT the government’s to tell me how to care for it. I know there are so many people that don’t do the right thing who are horrible pet owners but again, that is the price we pay for a truly free society. There will always be rotten apples in any society whether it is a free one or not. I do not want nor need more government interference in my life. I see this mandatory micro chipping as a total invasion of my privacy and an erosion of my rights as a citizen of the USA.

The mandatory micro chip would mean not only could we find our animals but the government could find and track us as well because it’s not really the animals being tracked but us. Think about it: it is your information in this micro chip along with your pets’ information. I seriously doubt that the government cares a whole lot about our domesticated animals and we don’t have to look far to know that. Consider the hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005 to see how much concern our government really had for our pets. For a person who grew up reading such authors as Orson Wells, micro chipping bodes too Orwellian for an independent thinker such as me.

I leave the ball in your court to decide what is best for you and your pets, but will the government give you the same consideration?

Article originally printed here: http://dogs.suite101.com/article.cfm/to_microchip_or_not_to_microchip__

About the Author:
©Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the Author. This article is for educational purposes only. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of the reader

Dr. Kim Bloomer is a veterinary naturopath (Kingdom College of Natural Health), host of the online radio show Animal Talk Naturally, and a proficient blogger and writer on natural pet health. Kim is also co-author of the book

Whole Health for Happy Dogs.

Dr. Kim is currently enrolled in the Clayton College of Natural Health studying for her human Doctor of Naturopathy degree. She lives with her husband of 20 years and they are owned by a rescued Neopolitan Mastiff named Shadrach.

Blogs: Bark ‘N’ Blog & A Dog’s View
Website: Aspenbloom Pet Care

DISCLAIMER: All information contained here on Aspenbloom Pet Care is intended for educational purposes only. It is not provided in order to diagnose, prevent or treat any disease, illness or injured condition of the body or pets and the author, publisher, and contributors accept no responsibility for such use. Anyone or their pets suffering from any disease, illness or injury should consult with their physician or veterinarian. The ONLY essential oils we use and refer to in ALL our posts, articles, and podcasts are Young Living Essential Oils. We DO NOT use any others and would not. The statements herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association

Additional Information:
Implanted Microchips Cause Cancer
Chip implants linked to animal tumors
If You Think Microchipping and Other Mandatory Junk is Safe & Protects Your Pets Then Read This
MICROCHIP IMPLANTS CAUSE FAST-GROWING, MALIGNANT TUMORS IN LAB ANIMALS
The New NAIS - How the USDA & Special Interests Have Conspired To Implement Mandatory Microchipping
Noble Leon

From Dr. Stephen Blake’s newsletter written together with his little grandson, Dr. Christopher

Facts about Microchips in animals

Melvin T. Massey, DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) from Brownsboro, Texas, brought this to the attention of the American Horse Council when he wrote, “I am a retired Equine Veterinarian and still breed a few horses. Because of migration-infection-increased risk of sarcoids I will not want to have microchips in my horses.”

The Institute of Experimental Pathology at Hannover Medical School in Germany reported, “An experiment using 4279 CBA/J mice of two generations was carried out to investigate the influence of parental preconceptual exposure to X-ray radiation or to chemical carcinogens. Microchips were implanted subcutaneously in the dorsolateral back for unique identification of each animal. The animals were kept for life span under standard laboratory conditions. In 36 mice a circumscribed neoplasm occurred in the area of the implanted microchip. Macroscopically, firm, pale white nodules up to 25 mm in diameter with the microchip in its center were found. Macroscopically, soft tissue tumors such as fibrosarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma were detected.”

Ecole Nationale Veterinaire of Unite d’Anatomie Pathologique in Nantes, France, reported, “Fifty-two subcutaneous tumors associated with microchip were collected from three carcinigenicity B6C3F1 mice studies. Two of these 52 tumors were adenocarcinoma of the mammary gland located on the dorsal region forming around the chip. All the other 50 were mesenchymal in origin and were difficult to classify on morphological grounds with haematoxylin- eosin.”

Marta Vascellari of Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie at Viale dell’Universita in Legnaro, Italy reported examining a 9-year-old male French Bulldog for a subcutaneous mass located at the site of a microchip implant. “The mass was confirmed as a high-grade infiltrative fibrosarcoma, with multi focal necrosis and peripheral lymphoid aggregates.”

Even the limited research available clearly indicates that implantation of microchips within an animal is gambling with the animal’s well being.

For additional information, go to www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/abstract/43/4/545

National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, www.pubmed.gov, and Google for “sarcomas associated with implanted microchips”.

Drs. Christian and Stephen Blake recommend you not panic and try to have the chip removed. This would be very difficult to do, because of how small these chips are and the fact that they migrate. They both recommend you palpate the area from around the neck and shoulders down to the forearms weekly. If you find a swelling in these areas, go to your veterinarian and have your animal checked out. If they find the chip is in the swelling area, they recommend immediate removal and biopsy.

Chips fail 30% of the time; there are five different manufacturers of these microchips and they are not universally scanned by the same device. If your pet ends up at a location where they do not have the matching scanner for the chip in your pet, it will come up negative.

Dr. Christian recommends only one safe way to make sure your pet returns home if he is lost, and that is Smart-I-tag. You can learn more about this great idea that protects you against identity theft and provides 24/7 phone service to get your pet back to you safely as fast as it takes to make a phone call. Go to my web site www.thepetwhisperer.com and click the page “Are Micro-Chips safe and what is a safe alternative?”

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