{"id":40954,"date":"2025-07-14T09:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T08:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petscanner.com\/?p=40954"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:51:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T08:51:05","slug":"how-do-pet-microchips-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petscanner.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/14\/how-do-pet-microchips-work\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do Pet Microchips Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the UK, all dogs must be microchipped by law. Microchipping is now also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/get-your-dog-cat-microchipped\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a legal requirement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for cats in England, but this is still optional if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. But what is microchipping and how do microchips work?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A pet microchip is a simple chip that holds important information about your dog or cat \u2013 including its name and crucially your contact details. These are standard silicon microchips, but they\u2019re contained in a small capsule that protects the chip and its data.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no power source in the microchip that is inserted under your pet\u2019s skin. Instead, these devices work using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/technology\/RFID\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RFID<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (radio frequency identification) technology. That means you need a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/petscanner.com\/index.php\/microchip-lookup\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chip finder<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to activate the microchip and read the details it contains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These microchips and their capsules are completely inert and made from materials that are completely safe for your pet. They usually last the lifetime of an animal, so only need to be inserted once.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inserting a microchip into a pet is a simple process carried out using a needle, much like an injection. Your vet or another qualified professional will be able to do this for you and provide you with the details of the database that your pet\u2019s microchip is attached to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ll be given the unique identification number for your pet\u2019s microchip once it\u2019s inserted and you can use this to log into the relevant database and add your contact details.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s essential that you keep your contact details up to date on the database, so that if your pet goes missing, it can be safely returned to you once found.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microchips are a more reliable form of identification than a collar or tag, which can easily be lost, removed or damaged. Because you need a specific microchip reader to access the information on your pet\u2019s microchip, it\u2019s also more secure than a tag which can be read by anyone.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the UK, all dogs must be microchipped by law. Microchipping is now also a legal requirement for cats in England, but this is still optional if you live in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Do Pet Microchips Work?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about how microchips for dogs and cats work, what you need to do once you\u2019ve had your pet microchipped and how long you can expect a chip to last for.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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