Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was a licensed vet tech for 15yrs until changing careers recently. I worked in an animal shelter and placed literally tens of thousands of microchips. Now that I don't work in the industry, didn't want to pay $60 to have a microchip placed. The worst part about regular microchips is the very large needle: It's just a needle, but it's larger than the gauge used to give medications to a horse. I don't know the gauge on this one, but it's definitely smaller than a regular microchip needle. I liked this, and it was super easy for me to place. Please, my VERY IMPORTANT advice to you is that you call your local SHELTERS and ask what types of microchips they can read with their reader. It's a good idea to call a few vets and ask the same question. I can tell you from experience, when a dog gets lost and is found by anyone with common sense, they'll call the animal shelter for advice. The shelter will ask them to bring the dog in to be scanned for a microchip (for free). You NEED a microchip that can be read by local animal shelters. Usually, a city's shelters AND veterinarians will be using similar technology - but this varies by region. If you put a microchip in your dog that can't be read by local shelters, it's worthless. I promise you, 90% of dogs found by a decent person will end up calling or taking the dog to a local shelter. They don't usually take it to a vet because they're afraid they'll get charged an exam fee. Additionally, register the chip with a company where the shelter is likely to call to get the info. If you don't know how a chip works....it's already active when you get it. When a vet or shelter reads it, all they get is a number. They have to call a database provider to get your contact info. There are too many registry databases and THEY DO NOT necessarily coincide or cross reference. If you register with a registry/database unknown in your area, the chip is potentially worthless because they might not be able to get your contact info. I did not recognize the registration provider in this product's package, plus I thought the registration price was exorbitant. Again, I promise you that it's COMMON for dogs to show up at the shelter, the shelter knows they have a microchip, but even after hours of phone calls, they cannot find where the dog is registered and never get the contact info. Don't let that happen to you, your dog, or the discouraged shelter staff. In my city, all the shelters use 24PetWatch. Coincidentally, I went to their website to register this microchip - easily findable by googling 24PetWatch. It was 100% free. Now, I am 100% confident that if my dog ends up lost, any of the local shelters and/or most of the vets can 1) Read the chip and 2) Will first call 24PetWatch with the number and instantly have my contact info. 24PetWatch may not be widely in use in your area, but I bet it is. If it's not, make sure you register with a company who's database is readily ACCESSIBLE to your local shelters. If you register with a company they don't regularly query, you might be in trouble. I also registered with another free database registry, just because it was free. Of course, none of this matters unless the person who finds your dog is smart enough to get on the phone or take the dog to a local vet or shelter, but you're screwed anyway if they don't! Hence, make sure you have good ID tags, too (I highly recommend the tags that rivet flat onto the collar - they don't come off easily and hold up forever). Remember, they do things differently in different regions of the US, so make sure you get the right type of chip, and register it with a useful database provider.