What's the deal with microchipping?

I was just talking to a friend who was counting herself lucky that her lost Beagle was returned to her only hours after she was lost. This discussion lead to the topic of microchiping. She said that she had her dog's done at a pet expo and that is was inexpensive. I told her that it wasn't the upfront cost but the yearly one that kept me from doing it. She looked at me like I had two heads! Do you have to pay a yearly fee or not? I was just looking at the website for Home Again and it looks like after the initial $25 for insertion, there is a $16.99 yearly fee. What happens if I get the chip but do not sign up for anything else? Is it worth it if I won't pay the additional money? Simply put, I won't pay annually. Any advice?

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Permalink Reply by Jane on November 12, 2011 at 1:37pm

Both of mine are microchipped with HomeAgain. You don't need to pay the yearly fee, that's just for additional services if your dog did indeed get lost.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on November 15, 2011 at 12:16pm

Both of my dogs have HomeAgain and I've always loved their service, you can call them and they can tell you who implanted the chip and what company it is for and a phone number for that company for ANY microchip. So if your dog had a 24hourpetwatch chip HomeAgain could tell you that and what the contact info is. No other company does that. HOWEVER, I must give a shout out to Avid. My horse has an Avid microchip and I sold her in March. The owners were changing the chip info and Avid actually called me to verify that i actually sold her and that the new owners hadn't in fact obtained her by illegal means. It was comforting to know they actually check on these things.

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on November 15, 2011 at 10:35pm

That's odd. 24hr pet watch just sent me a "yearly" bill for Teddy and my cat Jango. I haven't gotten one yet from home again, as my other cat, Yoda, was the only one to get that brand. So why am I getting charged a yearly fee for 24hr pet watch???

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Permalink Reply by Vee Luther on November 19, 2011 at 10:02am

got our chips in all 3 corgis from our vet and there's no annual fee. I also had the response listed so that they call the vet's office in case we're on a trip or out of touch for some reason.