Animals – Benefits of microchips

Since 2006, it has been a legal requirement that all dogs that are registered with the Council must be microchipped. The only exceptions to this are working dogs. Although this isn’t strictly policed by ourselves, as veterinarians we would strongly advise you that the process of microchipping your pet is highly advantageous. Microchipping can be seen as an added expense, but it is the best way to protect your pet from getting lost or stolen.

Unfortunately, it is an all too common occurrence that a pet is handed into our clinic that has been wandering the streets, and we have no idea who the owner is as there is no microchip present. The only thing we can do with these animals is ring animal control and hope they can track down the owner. Sometimes the animal may even have a microchip, but because it isn’t registered at our veterinary clinic or isn’t registered with the New Zealand Companion Animal Register (NZCAR), we still have to hand it over to animal control.

When you register your dog with the Council, its microchip number is linked to your contact details. This means that if your dog goes missing and is collected by animal control, they will be able to contact you immediately and arrange for the dog to be picked up. Living on the border of Auckland and Kaipara can cause problems, however, as the two Council’s don’t share this information. If your pet goes missing in Kaipara, but is registered in Auckland, the Kaipara District Council will not have your contact details. This can prolong the time it takes to get your pet back to you.

To combat this, we highly recommend registering your pet on NZCAR, which is a national database of pet ownership and can be accessed by all councils and all vet clinics to track a pet’s microchip number to its owner. This means if a pet is handed in to our clinic, we can bypass animal control, contact you directly and speed up the process of getting your pet back to you, along with saving you the $200 fine to get your pet released from the pound. It also has the benefit that cats and rabbits can be registered as well.

The process of microchipping is a relatively straight forward one that takes less than five minutes and involves injecting the microchip under the skin of the dog. The majority of patients tolerate this very well.

Neil Warnock, Wellsford Vet Clinic
www.vetsonline.co.nz/wellsfordvet