Conference misery::feline

    > residents face $45 fines if they fail to sterilize and register their
    > outdoor cats and pay annual licensing fees.
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^
    
    Are indoor cats exempt?
    
    Leslie

    I think their heart is in the right place.  However, forcing people
    to have a chip implanted in their kitties seems a little draconian
    to me.  WHat happens if the cat dies as a result of the operation,
    or gets sick, or just generally doesn't tolerate the chip well?  Some
    humans have had trouble with transdermal patches, pacemakers, etc.,
    and that is why I bring up the subject.  Will the city/county be
    liable if a cat gets ill and needs to be put down?  Are the chips
    being implanted for free, or is that the cat owner's responsibility
    too.
    
    Again, I'm all for sterilization, licensing, etc., and I'm not exactly
    an animal rights activist, but violating a kitty's "person," so to
    speak, doesn't sit well with me for some reason.

    
    But you see, dogs and cattles are next and humans are right behind
    them in line to be implanted with tracking devices. Maybe then, they
    can scan us all in from a satelite. Gosh, in CA, anything goes! I'm 
    amazed how that got passed. 
    
    
    Eva

    
    re. 2
    
    Kitties well being and health concerns - didn't strike me as a
    priority here.
    
    
    Eva

    We have had chipping here in Scotland for some time now.  It costs
    twenty pounds per cat and is totally optional.
    
    I have heard a couple of great stories where owners have been re-united
    with their lost cats due to them being chipped.
    
    In some parts of the UK a captured stray cat is automatically chipped
    when found before either going to a refuge or back to its owner.
    
    I have one outdoor/indoor cat who I have not had chipped as he cannot
    stray far.  If I moved to a more open environment I would consider it.
    Also if I ever purchase a pedigree cat I would have it chipped for
    security reasons.
    
    Kirsty
                                                   

    
    I like the idea.  I am going to pass on this information to the animal
    control officer in Oxford, Massachusetts.  As far as I know, Oxford is
    the only town in Mass. that requires a cat to be licensed.  Maybe he
    might be interested in this chip idea.  I think that the benefits far
    outway any negatives for the cat, especially if the cat goes outdoors.
    
    Eleanor

    actually, I believe Belmont Massachusetts requires cat licencing as
    well. I know that it was being debated, I'm not sure if it passed.
    
    Deb

    One thing that needs to be pointed out here:
    There are several types of chips and machines that read them.
    Not all are compatible.  Who will keep the database, who will read
    them?  Will every cat ever found be "scanned"?  I think this will end
    up costing alot more both in money and the lives of animals.  What if
    your cat has a reaction to the chip and ultimately dies?  That's one
    heck of a lawsuit against a town if it is required!  There is alot here
    for debate and not easily resolved.  I would want a lot more
    information before I joined the band wagon.  
    Karen

    Well, it makes more sense than requiring them to be on a leash....

    My (indoor) cats are all chipped.  The chip is extremely tiny,
    think as long as a pencil eraser but maybe a millimeter wide, if
    I recall correctly. Inserting it takes just a second;  it is hard
    to imagine how it could cause any reaction except one in a million.
     Yes, there are unfortunately at least two competing systems. 
    I also have id tags on my cats, since there is no guarantee they
    will get to a shelter or vet equipped with a scanner if they get lost,
    and so that no one will "adopt" them if they accidentally get outside
    because they think, no id tag, no owner.
     

    
    Wait a minute here. Cats don't just get lost - they know where they
    live. People are the ones keeping them. I had an experince when one
    of my Siamese was "lured" indoors by a kid one block down the road.
    The cat had a collar with a phone number on it. They kept our cat
    for 4 days because the little kid loved him. The parents got tired 
    of our cat and called us to report the find. It was obvious to my
    husband when he was that if our cat was less demanding they would 
    have kept him for good. We were so happy to see him back that we 
    didn't take any action against the family. Now, I don't see how a 
    chip get prevent that from happening. It may even discourage people
    who keep others' cats to visit the vets, afraid of being discovered.
    
    
    Eva 

    Re: cats don't get lost
    
    Ever see a cat explore any open truck or car in the
    neighborhood?
    

    
    >Ever see a cat explore any open truck or car in the
    >neighborhood?
    
    Sure. But then, wouldn't the driver know where the
    passenger got on?!  
    
    
    Eva

    I think we should just chip ourselves, kids, dogs, birds as well as
    anything else we own.  Just in case....

    Lost cats...hmmmmm I've seen zillions of them pass by my
    neighborhood.   I do believe unfixed male cats can go looking
    for "love" and get lost.  
    
    Instead of the chip...I would prefer to see some type of licensing
    and very large penalties for all unfixed animals.  
    
    Sandy

Ear tags are better.  Both of my cats have them, and I feel that they're
a Good Thing.  That is, they're a trade-off between neck tags, which get
lost -every- time and something like these chips.  A cat with an earring
is something I can tolerate, and they don't tend to lose them. <grin>

I wonder when they'll mandate those chips for their subj...er, voters?

    Ear tags are better? Our cats HAD them. The stupid retainers came
    loose and the tags fell off after a year or so. We asked the people
    who installed them and found out that this isn't uncommon. We "thought"
    this was the best solution, since one of our cats won't keep a collar;
    now we're back at square one looking for a good way to keep them
    identified. . .

There's a newer kind of fastener which your vet might want to find out about.
I lost one ear tag, then the vet used the new fastener and there's been no
further loss in 3 years.

Call Sakonnet Veterinary Hospital at (401)624-6624 for details.

    The Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley scans all the animals
    they take in.  I'm not sure what kind of system they have though.
    
    I've been told that there are people working with the various
    companies to try to make the chips readable by whichever system
    scans them.
    
    Jan
    

    As far as I am aware we do not have ear taging of domestic animals in
    the UK, only cows and the like.
    
    What does this tag contain.
    
    Kirsty

The tags are metal hexagons with a phone number (the vet) and an identification
code (a letter and 3 (?) digits) on them.  The tag on one of my cats was used
once, when the cat got confused about where "home" was, and I got a call at
02:00.  You just have to keep the vet up-to-date with your current phone number.

    I'm all for it.  There are too many stray/missing cats that could
    possibly be reunited with their owners if there was a way to find them. 
    I'm not sure about the chip but the ear tag is noticable.  So far,
    no-one has said what this would cost other than the fine if caught
    without the chip.  I have 6 cats plus 2 strays and all are
    spayed/neutered.  Only 1 goes outside but never when I'm not there. 
    She can't wear a collar and neither can my Persian boy so a collar tag
    wouldn't help.  Looking at the positive side far outweighs the remote
    possibility of a cat dying from the implant.  We give shots to our
    animals and, sometimes, the cat dies from that.  Does that mean no more
    Rabies or Distemper shots for our babies.  Not mine !!!
    
    Sandi (mom to 6 cats and 2 strays)

    Couldn't ear tags be a little dangerous if, for instance, your cat got
    into a fight, or if he were running from a dog and it got caught on a
    bush or something?  
    
    Marilyn
    

Nothing is perfect.  Ear tags could get ripped out in a fight, maybe, or humans
might do nasty things, but collars aren't any better, and they tend to get lost.
The scanned pellets are an interesting idea, but until everyone knows they
exist, they stand to be missed in the shuffle when a cat gets stolen or taken in
to the pound.

Just my opinion.  In the Best of All Possible Worlds, cats wouldn't get lost,
wouldn't need to go to the pound, and noone would steal them.

    I considered ear tags for my cats, but a friend says her two kept
    getting theirs torn out, so I decided it wasn't worth it.  The chip
    sounds a lot more reasonable, but I'd wait a bit to let them get some
    data on side effects before doing it.

    I found out last night that the city of San Jose, CA has passed a cat 
    licensing law.  I don't have any details about it.  I don't recall even
    hearing that it was being voted on.  I haven't seen the paper lately 
    so I may have missed the article.
    
    They didn't bother to raise the pet limit in the city at the same 
    time so we're still limited to 2 cat or 2 dogs (or a combination 
    of 1 cat 1 dog).  This means only 2 of mine will get licensed.  Most
    likely the two that are worst about trying to get outside.
    
    They passed a similar law in Fremont, CA earlier this year.  They
    have the option of a tag or the microchip.  One of the drawbacks
    to the microchip has been removed.  Apparently, they can be scanned
    by all companies' machines at this point.  The other drawback that
    was discovered is that the chips don't always stay right where they
    were put (between the shoulder blades).  So, if the humane society
    is only scanning in that one place, that could cause some problems.
    
    Jo tells me a chip salesman was telling her about their newest chip
    which bio-adheres to the cats tissue to keep it in place.  She says
    it has a tiny plastic disk with holes in it attached to the chip and
    the tissue grows around/through these holes.  Sounds pretty icky to
    both of us.  She currently has 2 cats with chip implants and she hasn't
    seen any problems with the chips yet.  It's only been a couple of 
    months though.  Hopefully, there will be no future problems.
    
    These chips are not cheap.  They can run between $40 and $50 per chip
    (in addition to the license fee and the vaccination fees required to
    get the license...yow!)
     
    Jo noted that cats have to be relicensed every year (for a fee) but 
    you can buy a three year license for a dog.  Seems a bit unfair.
    Sounds like it's all about money (more cats, more license fees, more
    often) instead of being all about getting the cats returned to their
    owners if they're lost.
            
    I also heard that a survey was done by NPA in the San Jose area and
    it was discovered that the majority of cats processed by the humane
    society were non-owned cats.  I'm not sure of all the details of this
    survey but the NPA (National Pet Alliance) would probably provide more
    info if necessary.  So, if most of the cats were of the non-owned 
    variety (ferals, strays??) what good would licensing cats to do get
    them returned to their owners?
    
    Sorry for rambling/thinking out loud.  Wanted to share the info with
    you but didn't have everything organized in a clear, concise manner
    in my head.
    
    Jan 

    Re: .26
    
    Jan, my cats had the chips implanted 1-2 years ago, if I remember
    the time frame correctly.   Do you know if these "older" chips can be
    read by all the types of scanners now, or did the companies modify the
    chips since then to make them readable by all types of scanners...
    

    I'm not sure which way they went with this.  I'll see if Jo knows.  
    If not, they Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley may know.  They're 
    really pushing this technology.
    
    Jan

    Jan,
    There was alot of info on this recently on the internet.  It seems
    to me that, as you stated, owned pets aren't the issue.  I feel it is
    just one more way for the animal rights people to poke their nasty
    little noses in where they shouldn't belong.
    
    Educate, spay/neuter.  If you can't do that yet how the heck can
    you think implants will work?  They will be able to track only the good
    people who don't need it!
    .02
    Karen