Centreville Animal Hospital Newsletter
www.centrevilleanimalhosp.com

Vol. 7 Number 10   Continued...

Recently, two major veterinary pharmaceutical companies have teamed up with microchip manufacturers to create a stronger support system for the ISO chip by handing out more than 60,000 new scanners capable of reading all four frequencies.

But the mixed-up frequencies are not the only problem with this high-tech system.

Max almost didn't make it home even though the shelter found his chip. Max had never been registered into a database. When the shelter workers scanned his chip, the ID code told them it had been sold to a veterinary hospital. The veterinarian had kept proper records and Max went home, but that's not how this system is designed to work.

Michael Gendreau, product manager for the resQ ISO chip manufactured by the Bayer Co., states that less than half of micro-chipped pets have been entered accurately into any database. Lutz said, "Fifteen percent of Americans move every year. . . . How many people will remember to change the address and phone number for their pet's microchip?"

Unfortunately, it appears that many of the registration Web sites are complicated and not very user-friendly.

These problems are obviously overwhelming to pet owners. Permanent identification is important because it prepares us for the unthinkable. No one plans to have a house fire, a spooked cat, a pet lost while traveling, or a Hurricane Katrina.

Old-fashioned methods, such as ID collars, should be used along with the microchip until issues can be resolved -- let's hope sooner rather than later. Before you get your pet micro-chipped, talk to your veterinarian about the frequency being used.

I would recommend a 125 kHz microchip. After your pet is micro-chipped, be sure to register your pet's chip number.

Dr. Wes Borgman is a veterinarian at the Kissimmee Animal Hospital. He can be reached at 407-846-3912. Ed. Note: We have found the microchips very helpful in identification and we have seen no problems except a few paperwork problems early in the use of these implants. Now that the registration is a part of the process, this lack of data for your pet's chip is mute and not a problem.

Bloat and Large Breed Dogs

Two of our clients have lost their dogs recently to this awful disease and condition. Our deep chested breeds like German Shepherds, English Setters, Huskies, and many others are much more likely to experience this sudden build up of gas in their stomachs with fatal consequences than other breeds of dogs. If garbage eating, swallowing air and running were the only predilections to this disease, then Beagles and many other dogs would have equal incidences of bloat. That is not what we see.

Bloating can occur in any dog that eats unusual food in its diet, runs with a full stomach, swallows lots of air while excited, and it can also occur when we have no idea why it should happen. If the gas can pass in either direction from the stomach the problem can usually relieve itself without much assistance. The problem occurs (and the reason for this is obscure at this time) when the gas acts like novacaine on the muscles of the stomach allowing those muscles to become flaccid. Usually the muscles act to push food, ingesta, and gas through the stomach. But if the muscles give up, the gas builds up and two things can happen. The less serious is the stomach stretches, causes abdominal pain and it can rupture with resulting peritonitis and death. That is the les serious! What causes a sudden death syndrome is the stomach flips on its long axis and twists about 270 degrees around this axis. This effectively closes off both the pylorus or opening from the stomach into the intestines and the hiatus opening back into the esophagus and mouth.

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