Microchips...what brand?

[AGonzalez]

Lily has a HomeAgain chip. I am taking her and Lacey to the vet next week to have their rabies shots done, and Lacey needs to be chipped.
However, this vet clinic doesn't do HomeAgain, they do AVID. So should I take her to the military vet clinic to have the HomeAgain one put in, or just have the AVID one done when she gets her rabies shot?

What's the difference? Is one better than the other?

 

[Fran27]

Well I'm starting to hate Home Again lol. Can't log in their website and they still haven't answered any of my (now 3) emails. Of course if AVID can't be read anywhere that would suck too

 

[AGonzalez]

Maybe try calling them to harass them? Emails are easily ignored, pissy people on the phone, not so much, lol.
Call 1-888-HOMEAGAIN (1-888-466-3242)

Also, if I take her to the military vet clinic it will be cheaper (last time they charged me $38 for 2 to be done) than the $39 it will cost to have her done at my regular vet clinic.
I also scheduled to have Lily spayed - spay date is December 10th :yikes: but that's at a lower cost place, and it will be only $65 instead of $300 like the other clinics I called today.

 

[CharlieDog]

I prefer AVID. There's no yearly fee, and the information is available to both vets and shelters.

 

[AGonzalez]

HomeAgain doesn't have a yearly fee, the chip still scans and everything at the vet, the yearly fee is if you want their "extra" goodies...which I believe includes insurance.

 

[CharlieDog]

Ahh. All I know is I always get a bunch of mail from HomeAgain asking me to pay my yearly fee.

I had Ozzy chipped with Avid because it seems like its more common down here, and more common means more vets have scanners that read it. Even though Ozzy's moved from the back of his neck to his left shoulder blade!

Enzo will be chipped with Avid too.

 

[ARiley]

I had Cody microchipped when he was neutered. I got him fixed at SNAP, which is a low cost vet clinic here in Houston(well, it's supposed to be low cost, but I found out Cody had a special deal with his little doggy balls, one had dropped, but the other was somewhere in his stomach/intestines. cost me an arm and a leg, and poor baby had to be cut open like he was being spayed ) ANYWAY, back on topic, lol! I got him microchipped then to save a vet trip, for $30. His chip is PetLink. Their website has always worked for me. Since about 100 people have their pets fixed at SNAP every Saturday, and the microchipping is only done when the animal is being fixed, I assumed that made it so common that most vets would carry the scanner.

ETA: PetLink doesn't have yearly fees.

 

[elegy]

i'd pick homeagain over avid as all scanners can read homeagain chips but not all scanners can read avid chips. at any rate, i'd stick with one of those two "big name" companies.

there are a bunch of little companies popping up, but if your dog is picked up and scanned and the chip is with some obscure company, there's no guarantee that anybody's going to know to call them. we had one awhile ago chipped with whatever the AKC's microchip is. it scanned and we got a number the only reason we even found out the AKC *had* a microchip service was because homeagain told us it sounded like an AKC chip number, gave us their number, and told us to try calling them.

 

[lakotasong]

All of my dogs are microchipped with the resQ chip from Bayer.

resQ Pet Tracking System - Protecting the bond between pets & owners

My two favorite features: their chips are universal and their online registration is TERRIFIC! You can upload a photo, tons of information... And you can continue to update, free, forever.

From the resQ website...

resQ offers you....

* No registration fee

* No annual fee

* The benefit of an internationally standardized technology that allows your pet’s microchip to be read by an ISO-compliant scanner anywhere in the world.

* An easy to use on line database at www.PetLink.NET to keep your pets’ information current and accurate.

* 24/7 customer service to help you and your pet find each other when they get lost

I highly recommend them.