Hi all


I was going to put this in my 'Cat missing - Bruderholz' thread, but I didn't want to get people's hopes up that Maud had been found

If you had your pet microchipped in a foreign country, then I strongly advise that you go here: http://www.anis.ch/en/database-registration/
and click the link to check whether your Swiss vet has entered the chip number in their database. This is the national 'Animal Information Service' which is where animal shelters, vets etc check so they can reunite lost/dead pets with their owners.

Stupidly we thought our vet had done this when we first registered with them, because they scanned Maud and Claude and wrote their numbers down. When Maud disappeared I checked the database, only to find she wasn't listed. On calling the vets it seems they had taken the numbers for their own records but done nothing with them. This means Maud could be dead, in a home, at a vets and we wouldn't know. I am so, so cross - with myself for not having checked 2 years ago, when we signed up, and with the vet for not having closed the loop.

Maud vanished on Friday, we told the vet on Saturday. She still isn't listed. Only your vet can get officially register the chip, but ANIS have taken pity on me and have now made a note of my details in case anyone gets in touch with them. Please don't let this happen to you.

Thanks for the tip. Just checked and ours is registered so our vet is pretty efficient.

Hope your cat turns up soon. It must be horrible not knowing where she is.

So you're saying even though we give this information to the BVET upon arrival, they don't do anything with it and it doesn't get entered into any system that gets searched?

Correct. It is up to you and/or your personal vet to register the animal. The vet may give you the paperwork/form to fill in and mail. Just make sure that one of you does it.

A bit obvious but be sure to enter your MOBILE number BEFORE your home number. When you and the family are out searching for the animal no one is at home.

Another basic idea is that animal (if it has a collar) should have a dog tag with your mobile number on it. People who find the animal will call first if there is a number before going to all the work of taking the animal to a vet or the police.

Interesting point re: BVET - we drove here from the UK with the cats and no-one, aside from Eurotunnel, checked our paperwork. We were waved through the Swiss border with no comment (despite 2 huge cages taking up the back of the car). We did have all the paperwork, but...

The vet registered the kittens himself, and gave us no paperwork for the big cats - and ANIS were very clear today that only a vet can register them - you can't just give the data yourself.

Good point re:mobiles. Our cats don't wear collars (too many horror stories about cats choking when caught in trees) but I'm reconsidering that for the minicats.

The vet has left several messages for me to call him tomorrow. I'll let you know if I learn anything else useful.

FYI, it used to be that you could register your pet's microchip yourself - I did with all my dogs except the last adoptee.

However, it seems to have changed, probably with the new TschV law in Sept 2008 - at least, the muttley I adopted in early 2009 was the first where I could not register my dog myself.

(Odd, since mandatory microchipping of dogs came into effect in 2006 - and I registered 2 dogs myself after that date...)

Anyway, it might be a good idea to check the ANIS database every so often; I logged in once and found my info pretty badly screwed up. Seems there had been a recent software update - a quick phone call sorted it out.

Also, be aware that microchips can travel - you should have your pet scanned every once in a while just to make sure that the chip is where you expect it to be, and that it is indeed still working.

In addition to wearing tags with my phone number, mine also wear tags that say they are chipped. (As well as their medical tags... paranoid? Moi? ) Hopefully anyone scanning them will be persistent if the chip is not found initially. Not such an issue with dogs, as everyone expects a dog to be chipped as per law - but with cats this could be a problem if the scanner only checks the neck and then gives up.

---

We're still keeping our paws crossed that Maud makes it home soon.

Well, just as an update, I spoke with the vet this morning. Because he hadn't chipped M & C himself, he hadn't registered their numbers. In fact, he didn't seem to have them despite me clearly remembering him scanning them on their first visit. I've faxed them to him now to input - better late than never I guess...

Our experience with ANIS is that when we returned home with the dogs, we were given a 10 day window in which to have the dogs chipped and registered here. ANIS mailed us an A4 sheet for each dog with a wallet size card with all the information on it. We have since moved, (and are moving again) and each time I have changed our address with ANIS.

When the dogs are immunized, the vet checks that the chip can be read. At first I thought they do this as we have 3 dogs but the vet said this is standard practise to be sure the right dog is on the table. The reader displays the number and confims that it matches the bar code label that can be peeled off from the ANIS sheet and placed in the dog's pet passport. If you have not peeled the label off you should do so. There is a place to affix it in the pet passport.

I hope Maud is found and returned home.