15,000 defective pet microchips to be replaced for free

Thursday, 11 January 2018

Mona Lisa the staffy's owner says 'she's no beauty' but 'she's my work of art'.

About 15,000 pets in New Zealand have defective microchips, meaning they cannot be identified if they get lost.

BioTec microchips, manufactured by pharmaceutical company Virbac, have been causing issues for Kiwi pet owners since they were introduced in 2009.

Rex, a polydactyl cat, back when he was a kitten.

One of the Kiwis affected was Hamilton woman Kim Forlong and her polydactyl moggie. When she got Rex, now 9, in 2012 she was immediately protective of him and his extra toes.

'I thought he was so cool that someone would want to steal him, so I got him microchipped immediately,' she said.

Rex's owner thought 'someone would want to steal him', so she got him microchipped as soon as possible.

**READ MORE:

* Hundreds of pet IDs defective

* Microchip failure 'disappointing'

* Microchip mistake causes heartache for dog owner**

Eight months later when Forlong took him to the vet for a check-up, the vet found the microchip could not be detected.

'It was such a shock. I was gutted because I would hate to lose him, he's my pride and joy.'

Rex was also at increased risk of getting lost because he did not wear a collar. As a kitten he had constantly tried to pull his collar off, and one day Forlong came home to find a distressed Rex with his paw caught inside the collar.

'So now he doesn't wear a collar at all, and he might look a bit like a stray.'

Furlong has since ensured all three of her animals - two cats and a labrador - have working microchips.

Virbac technical product manager Simon Clark said pet owners with Virbac microchips need not worry that their pets could be mistaken for strays and put down if lost.

'There's no need to panic. If it's relevant to you, your vet will contact you and organise for a free replacement microchip,' he said.

'And any animal control organisation can tell a pet cat from a wild cat very easily - they are remarkably different.'

If pet owners suspected their pet might have a BioTec microchip, Clark said they could go to any vet for a free replacement microchip and Virbac would cover the costs.

Clark said Virbac had reached out to 'all veterinarians we have contact with' to ask them to check their databases, he said.

'We're hoping that all veterinarians will contact the clients who have pets with those microchips.'

The New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) issued a statement confirming veterinarians will work with Virbac to replace chips which may be faulty.

'The failure rate of microchips is exceedingly low. These three batches of Virbac BioTec microchips have not been used since 2012 after they were recalled. They represent less than 0.7 per cent of all microchips in New Zealand,' an NZVA spokeswoman said.

Microchip numbers can usually be found in your pet's vaccination record booklet, she said.

If the 15 digit microchip inserted in your pet starts with either of these numbers: 900088xxxxxxxxx, 9000088xxxxxxxx and 9000010xxxxxxxx appointment should be made with your veterinarian to have a second microchip inserted and registered.

'Virbac will arrange with the veterinarian to cover the cost of placing the second microchip, and this will provide additional security in the event that your pet goes missing,' she said.

BioTec microchips were distributed from 2009 till 2012. When Virbac was made aware of defects, they introduced Bioglass microchips in 2012. Bioglass microchips have had no reported issues, Clark said.

But Virbac has still been receiving claims for defective BioTec chips every week, Clark said, so they have decided to be 'proactive rather than reactive' and pay to replace the BioTec microchips with Bioglass ones.

However, Clark said people 'might have to pay for a new chip' if they could not prove their pet's defective microchip was a Virbac chip. New microchips could cost anywhere between $20-70, he said.

'It's never going to be perfect and we're never going to get all of them but we're trying to fix as many as possible.'

Pet owners are not required to microchip cats, but dogs must be chipped.

Blenheim woman Tash Olliver had a microchip implanted in her dog Mona Lisa, 9, in 2010.

When Mona Lisa, her 'work of art', ran away after an earthquake in 2017, her microchip did not register.

Olliver said she was told the vet did not keep records as far back as 2010, but she could not afford the $45 replacement cost quoted to her by animal control.

'We're a low-income family, we can't afford to be forking out $45 we don't have, and it's not our fault it was faulty.'

She was unconvinced that all vets around the country would have the necessary data to prove pets had been implanted with Virbac-branded microchips.

'So people like us, without working microchips, have to hope like heck if their animals are caught by animal control that they don't get put down.'

But Nigel Morris, manager at Animal Register Limited, said most pets are micro-chipped to be registered, so it is not just vets who could help identify if a chip in a particular animal as by Virbac.

'In New Zealand dogs by law are required to be on the National Dog Database. Also many pets are also registered on the not-for-profit New Zealand Companion Animal Register,' he said.

The NZCAR was created by six of the leading animal welfare agencies, including the NZCAC, the NZVA and the SPCA - its only role is to get lost pets home and more than 580,000 animals are currently recorded.

'We to can help an owner identify the chip number in their pet and where it was implanted,' Morris said.

SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen recommended pet owners visited their local vets to get their animals checked.

'They can also get a new microchip put in and registered, and deregister the old one. They will have peace of mind if they do that,' she said.

'It's always great if people can put collars, tags, and bells on their pets as well.'