Make it law to scan microchips routinely on current & new patients at the vets.

As the public & dog owners who see our dogs & cats as part of our family we would expect all vets to scan them. If a dog or cat goes missing and then found and kept by someone or is stolen and sold on they have little chance of ever being found & reunited with their family as most vets never scan

In reality if they were brought into a vets somewhere they're chip would definitely most likely not be checked. I have moved around the UK over the years & I have belonged to approx 11 different practices & not one offered to scan my dogs. I had to request it and luckily I did as 1 of my dogs chip had dissaperared. He is now chipped again to be safe. Scanning new & old patients microchips would reunite so many. It doesn't take long & reception staff could also easily do this.

DogsAreFamily 💔

Whilst microchipping is not proof of ownership of a dog and ultimately only the courts can decide on ownership disputes, we agree with the British Veterinary Association (BVA) that veterinarians are encouraged to scan dogs that are presented to them for the first time.

If the veterinary profession were required to play a role in enforcing owners’ compliance with microchipping legislation this may cause negative unintended consequences for animal welfare by compromising the vet-owner relationship. Many owners would be deterred from taking their dog to the vets for fear of being challenged over possible discrepancies in their database entry.

However, we understand that on 23 April 2019 representatives of the BVA met campaigners on scanning by vets to discuss the issues. At the meeting, BVA representatives agreed to raise awareness among the veterinary profession to routinely scan dogs at first presentation and cross check on the databases. The BVA also committed to considering whether vets could scan all other dogs brought into veterinary practices.

The Government considers that it would not be appropriate to require veterinary practices to scan all dogs and cats brought to their practices. However, if the BVA remind all veterinary practices to microchip all new dogs and check the details against the database this will help to ensure records are kept up-to-date and identify any misplaced dogs.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.