19 Sept 2013
Jane Davidson
Job Title
Debbie Matthews and her father, Sir Bruce Forsyth, who became involved in missing animals when Debbie's two Yorkies, Gizmo and Widget, were stolen.
I have been reading with interest the arguments for and against regular scanning. At the moment this is particularly aimed at dogs, thanks to this: Compulsory chipping of dogs from 2016.
This topic has gained momentum through various high profile lost/stolen dog stories and, currently, social media is awash with lost/stolen dog groups and pages where you can post information to be shared.
Much of this has stemmed from Sir Bruce Forsyth’s Vets Get Scanning appeal, through which campaign co-founder Debbie Matthews (Brucey’s daughter) has been trying to get a standardised approach to scanning in practice.
Before everyone starts wringing their hands and muttering… as a RVN I realise that scanning EVERY dog EVERY time is not realistic. However we do need to realise scanning for chips and checking if they are working is as important a factor on a client database as a registered address to chase a debt to.
So, when to scan, and how to approach this with your clients? A recent correspondent in the letters page of Veterinary Times admitted clients had looked at him oddly as he scanned their pets.
From my experience of being an obsessive scanner, I would advise to scan:
That way we aren’t scanning every animal, every time. However we are covering the bases of likely presentations of new pets, or existing pets that could have had a chip malfunction/movement.
I have often seen in practice pets brought in as “stray” that are only identifiable through a chip. Yet if your database does not hold the chip number you cannot search for it – which is quicker than calling the chip databases.
As for how to approach the clients – if you explain you are making sure that all details are up to date and ensure the owner can get their pet back, few owners will resist.
