On the subject of registration and identification of dogs and cats …
In any case, one thing is certain: without a database that links the marked animals to an owner, the marking is of little value. It is therefore important that your darling is not only chipped, but also registered .
Since it has been mandatory in Austria since 2008, and now in almost all federal states in Germany, that a dog or cat is chipped, there are more and more local databases that are unfortunately not networked with each other. The registration of identification data in a database is not provided for in the EU Pet Ordinance, which is why almost every municipality has its own database in which the veterinarians can enter the pets!
This is also completely OK, because every reasonable pet owner has a so-called transponder chip, often also referred to as a microchip, implanted in his dog or cat anyway, regardless of whether it is required by law or not. This is not a question of MUST, but a question of care. The use of a microchip is pure routine for a veterinarian, and is short and “almost” painless. For your dog or cat, this is no worse than vaccination. The chip is simply injected into the neck area of the animal using a slightly larger “syringe”.
Some dogs, if they are like our Luis, who, according to the official diagnosis of our vet, is clearly in the group of “superhysterical dogs”, have a completely different view of pain-free. But joking aside, it’s completely safe and very quick. Even my Luis survived!
Apart from a tattoo, the transponder chip is also the best way to give your darling an unambiguous identification that is difficult to remove. The problem with a tattoo is that it fades after a few years because the color is absorbed by the body or destroyed by other environmental influences. At first glance, of course, all of this seems to be “not that important” to many readers, but you only notice how important it really is when it is “ready”, because …
What if…
What if you go on vacation with your darling?
What if you go on a mountain tour with your darling?
What if you take your darling with you to go shopping?
There are sure to be a hundred other scenarios in which your dog could go one way or another. How often have you heard or read that a dog or cat “suddenly” disappeared? The animal was chipped and registered, but it is still missing because nobody calls you or contacts you in any other way. Every dog or cat owner knows that a brief moment of inattention is often enough and it happens. Now the dilemma begins.
Imagine you are on vacation somewhere by the sea, for example in Italy, Slovenia or Croatia, or maybe in Hungary at Lake Balaton and your dog is playing happily in the water. You sit comfortably on the beach and enjoy the sun. All paletti, but the next moment you have lost sight of your darling and ask yourself: What happened, was he frightened by something, did another dog come by and he ran away with him? The reasons for a pet’s disappearance can be many.
You’re looking for him right away, of course, but minute after minute you just can’t find him. Panic is spreading! A horror scenario that can happen not only on the beach, but just as well on a hiking tour or a city trip. Not to mention the numerous cases in which the “animal mafia” is behind the disappearance of pets.
Now good advice is expensive, as long as you are in a country where your mother tongue is spoken, everything is relatively straightforward. Your darling has a chip and is also registered in a database in your country. If your darling is found and taken to a vet or animal shelter, they can read the chip and search through the databases they know, BUT what if you are somewhere abroad where you can speak your language does not speak?
Then, in all likelihood, things will get rather complicated. To report the dog or the cat as missing to the police, it should still be possible to some extent, but what then? It could well be that your darling has already been found by someone and taken to a veterinarian or animal shelter in this strange country, and even worse, what if you have to go back home because the vacation is over?
Now your darling is sitting in an animal shelter in Hungary, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania or what do I know in which country, and is waiting for his beloved owner to pick him up. The nice people there even check whether the animal has a chip and read out the microchip. This is good because the transponder chip contains the animal’s most important data. The identification number of a tranponder chip always consists of a 15-digit code. The uniqueness of the ISO 11784 number can be guaranteed with the OTP (One Time Programmable) silicon used today.
The following data is stored on a transponder chip in the form of a 15-digit code:
The country of origin (country code according to ISO standard 11784)
The manufacturer number of the manufacturer of the microchip
The eight-digit identification number of the dog or cat
Unfortunately, the chip has no GPS function that could be used to locate the animal
Example – The chip is read and the reader shows the following number: 276 0 972 00023868 This means 276 is a German animal, the fourth digit is usually 0, 972 is the manufacturer (Planet ID GmbH Germany) and the serial number, that is the CHIP ID of your dog or cat.
Well, let’s assume the chip has been read and it turns out that the animal found is from Germany, for example. Now the eg Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Croatian, or Hungarian animal keeper must search for the owner of the animal using CHIP ID.
This raises the following questions:
- In which database should he search at all?
- Is the database search function available in his language?
- Are the results of the query available in his language?
- Are the owner’s contact details available immediately, or does the operator of the database have to be contacted first?
These are delicate criteria that very often decide whether to search for the owner at all, because a search in a foreign-language database may prevent one or the other from researching the owners of an animal. It could take days or weeks to find someone who is able to do a search in a German language database, let alone read the results. And we all know what happens to animals that are found but the owner cannot be determined.
That brings me to the appeal to all animal lovers, register your darling at chipzentrale .
The Chipzentrale is an international database for dogs and cats that is available in 109 languages .
Create a profile for your pet and save your contact details under which you would like to be contacted in an emergency. You can not only enter the CHIP ID in the chip center, but also many other data that can identify your darling.
You can enter the following details of your favorite:
- Age
- Art
- race
- Chip ID
- tax number
- Tattoo number
- gender
- colour
- Special features as free text (e.g. 10 cm star-shaped white spot on the back)
You can enter the following personal information for notification in an emergency:
- Surname
- Phone number
- Mobile phone number
- address
- Alternate Email Address
- Your own website
But also your profiles in the most important social media
- Skype ID
- Youtube
- SoundCloud
- VKontakte.
With all this information, it is almost impossible not to be found and contacted immediately.
Do not hesitate to register your darling in the chip center today, because an entry in the chip center means security for your darling .
To the entry in the chip center
Better safe than sorry
And don’t forget: the search function and all search results are available in 109 languages , so it is no problem for veterinarians or animal keepers from all over the world to find their way around the chip center !
