Adventures in microchipping

Geisha (fka Lightnin')

About five years ago we decided that we really wanted to microchip our puppies before they went home. I checked around and found we could order the chips from Microchip ID Systems at a reasonable price, and besides, the president of the company, Jean Anne, is a friend I've known for years. I was a little embarrassed that we didn't already chip the puppies, but she pointed out we all have to start somewhere. So I asked what she recommended. She said there was nothing to inserting them, -- hey, no big deal, right? so we got in the first batch. I had heard the needles were big, but good lord, these suckers looked like javelins! And I was supposed to stick them into my little whippet pups??

Skiff

The thing is, I can't do it myself. I can give shots almost blindfolded (not that I would try it), can tube-feed a puppy, can administer fluids to a dehydrated dog...but show me that big fat microchip-deploying needle and there is NO way. I tried it once and the puppies' skin was so thick I couldn't get it through and after shooting about three chips across the room, I gave up and took the pups to the vet and paid $35 each to have them "professionally" inserted.

By the next litter, I happened to have made a new friend, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder who had just moved to town. She chipped that litter for me. But then she moved away.

So last year I hauled two whole litters up to a friend well north of Harrisonburg (about two hours) and she did them for me. Very long drive with a car full of carsick whippet puppies, but I did enjoy the visit with my friend..

Then there was a litter of four. I just sent them home with the chips and asked folks to get their vets to insert them, but I wasn't very happy with that. A couple of vets said they couldn't insert them because they "weren't familiar with that chip." Oh please. More like, "You didn't buy it from me, so I'm not helping you out." The chips come in a sealed package already loaded into a syringe. How much is there to know?

Moka (fka Bonnie)

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago, here I was with 21 puppies (remember, this is two litters, the first one supposedly an impossibility!) and no way to microchip them. I sent the first two home with their chips. Then daughter Jo came up to puppysit while we went to look for a car -- forgot to mention that I totalled mine a couple of weeks ago, but that's another post. When we got home, I mentioned the chipping dilemma and she said, "I can do that!"

I looked at her dubiously. "Have you ever done it?"

"Nope," she admitted, "but how hard can it be? Lots of breeders do it." Jo used to work for a vet and I knew she could give shots, but chips???  I asked, "Have you seen that needle?"

Ranger (fka T-Bone)

Yes, she said, she had, and she still could do it. I should mention that though Jo is my daughter, she is a bit over 30 years old, so I wasn't entrusting my pups to a seven year old or anything like that.

So we decided to give it a shot, so to speak. We put the puppies in the kitchen sink because when you're doing something like this, you want them to feel a little insecure so they won't fight you. Something else to think about, you know, like, "Why am I standing in this metal bucket in the kitchen?" and "Am I going to get a bath???" The idea being that when they discover we are just going to plunge a sword into their poor little shoulders, they'll think, "Oh well, at least it's not a bath!"

First, I told Jo, we had to organize all the chips and get the paperwork ready. Since I don't own a scanner, we had to be very sure we put the chip we intended into the puppy we intended. I can spend hours "getting ready" to do something I am putting off, but Jo watched me shuffle papers and syringes around for about two minutes and said, "Let's get this show on the road.."

Magic Sam

My job was to go bring the little vic-- uh, puppies into the kitchen. I picked Siren first. She is staying here for the long term, though is going off to summer camp for a month with my friend Sat Ananda in Charlotte. I figured if we messed her up, at least it would be my puppy and not one I'd sold to someone else. (Precisely how we would "mess up" a puppy wasn't clear, but looking at that needle, I knew it could be done.)

I watched this one. Never again. The puppy was brave and didn't make a peep, Jo did the deed efficiently and apparently painlessly, my blood pressure shot up ten points and I almost hyperventilated. Siren did even squeak, but I think I did a lot of moaning and groaning, complete with sharp intakes of breath and ."Ooooohhhh"s. .

Sparrow

We agreed that I would simply hold puppies and look the other way. That worked much better. Only one cried a little. Maybe Johnny Ace?

Anyway, it all got done, the puppies survived, my BP has dropped to normal and there was not one drop of puppy blood spilled! I call that a success. And better yet, I have been taking the puppies for their going-home exams, about six at a time, and my wonderful vet has been scanning them for me to be sure the chips "took." So far every one has shown up and been the correct number (so I guess we really didn't need to spend two hours organizing, the way I would have done without Jo's...um...encouragement)

So if any of the puppies fall out of their cars on the way home, they'll be traced back to me!

Memphis Minnie

Sharyn